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For 4-year-old Rasha, the character she loves most is Elmo. "He loves children," she says with a smile.
Rasha wasn't always the happy child she is today. Like many other Syrian refugees, she often felt alone and afraid. The war has shattered so many homes, communities and lives. And few refugee children have a safe place to learn, play and just be kids.
This is why the IRC joined forces with Sesame Workshop to launch the largest early childhood intervention in the history of humanitarian response.
Ahlan Simsim ("Welcome Sesame" in Arabic) is the name of this groundbreaking program. Recently featured on 60 Minutes, the program is bringing education, hope and healing to Syrian refugee children like Rasha.
For children in crisis, education is a lifeline, not a luxury. And the current need for early education is staggering.
Over half of the world's refugees are children. They have suffered through violence and neglect and are at risk of experiencing developmental issues due to toxic stress. The scars of early traumatic experiences can have devastating long-term effects on children as they grow. Currently, less than 2% of global humanitarian funding goes to education, and only a tiny fraction of this goes to early childhood education.
But children are remarkably resilient. Research shows that nurturing care and learning can reverse the effects of toxic stress, if we reach children early with programs like Ahlan Simsim.
Here are the components of our program: |
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