Palestine On A Plate Loves....
A good story. A happy story with positive endings.
These two Palestinian refugees, Abdallah and Ammar, have left their besieged home in Palestine and refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria, to attend Eton, thanks to the Cogito Foundation.
Abdullah and Ammar
This allows them to study here and be educated the British way with hopes of taking their studies further.
But it doesn't stop there. These boys are giving back. Grateful for this amazing opportunity, they are giving lessons to Palestinian refugees back home via skype to allow them the further their education from where they are based. The cogito Scholarship requires the students who they have taken on to Pay it forward to the next person, and try to educate and encourage as much as they can. When they return home for the holidays they are also obliged to help others with any questions and answers they need, but teaching them something new that they cant learn back home.
Ben Bulmer Co founder of the Cogito Scholarship, said :
“I think there are many ways in which you can help your community. You can become influential, you can learn skills away from your country and you can have a huge impact and a huge benefit on where you are from. ”
Most of the refugees have been living in camps for over 60 years and it is time that some had the opportunity to have a chance to be something in a world that has so much to offer. They do too.
Ali Irfan the founder of Cogito has his eye on the Middle East education system and believes that there is an issue there for them. He Grew up in Iran for the first 8 years of his life and then moved to boarding school in the UK when it became fashionable. Learning in Iran and in the Middle East was all about memorizing. Not learning and he felt that there needed to be a different way for some if the possibility arose. Sponsorship and scholarship were the way forward.
Their sponsors range from many countries, but mainly GCC ones. Education is the most important things a person can have and that's exactly what Mohammads parents say.
“Education is the best asset you can have”
Lets hope these boys reach the upper echelons of power and make us all proud.
With Love, From Palestine