Most refugees can’t legally work in Jordan. This leads to huge economic instability and compounds the stress they already carry with them from fleeing their home countries. At CRP, we try to break down these economic barriers, giving refugees the opportunity to learn new skills so that they can build a brighter future. We saw a new opportunity to help refugees develop technological skills and recently introduced our new cellphone-repair class.
Each participant has their own unique reason for joining the class. Amjed, an Iraqi refugee, participates in the class for family motives, and will use his new knowledge to avoid the high cost of mobile maintenance in Jordan. If he can repair his own phone, it will save him money, which he can put towards other things that his family needs. Faeeq, also from Iraq, wanted to learn for himself, to increase his knowledge of technology. Others have bigger ambitions.
Naseer is a Syrian refugee who fled Daraa, a town that played an important role by the start of the 2011 uprising against the government of Bashar al-Assad. By the summer of 2017, much of the town was reported to have been destroyed by protracted fighting. Naseer used to work in mobile maintenance back before the invention of smartphones. He decided to take his chance with CRP to combine his previous experience with new skills. “I will use what I’ve learned during the class to build my own business here in Jordan, or if I can go back to Syria someday,” he says.
Hesham, one of our volunteer staff members, and Sleman, an active participant in our community, developed the class. They envision it as a space where refugees can come to learn about the highly technical aspects of cell-phone repair, regardless of their religion, political affiliation, or nationality. From teaching the ins and outs of different software packages to more concrete hardware reparation, the course provides our beneficiaries with a wide-ranging and comprehensive foundation for fixing cell phones.
Ausama, CRP’s volunteer who manages the class, fled from Iraq in 2014 because of danger from Daesh (the so-called Islamic State of Islam). He has no legal right to work here in Amman. This motivated him to assist other refugees during their integration process with CRP. He says: “I want to help the people that are in the same circumstances as me. In the future, it will be useful for these people to learn these skills and services.”
The class is a component of CRP’s multidimensional approach to refugees’ economic inclusion in the city, with other components including being classes such as glass drilling, men’s barbershop or women’s beauty school. These professional classes aim to teach refugees important skills that they can replicate outside of CRP, enabling them to build their home-based businesses, so that they can and make a living out of it.
This is crucial for their future, both in Jordan and if they are able to relocate to a third country where they will then bring new skills with them, and therefore integrate better and faster.
Build with us! Donate here to keep this program going strong and give hope and education to the refugees in our community. We need to raise $40,000 over the next four weeks to help CRP continue to build hope for refugees in Amman.
