Hadaya

FEBRUARY 2023 UPDATE

We all woke up on Monday, February 6th, to horrifying news regarding an earthquake in southeast Turkey and north Syria.

Some of you may know that I have dedicated the last six years to training adult refugees to become Montessori teachers and opening Montessori schools for orphan children in Jordan and Turkey.  Thank God I was successful! Now I have a big group of trained Montessori teachers that are running a few schools solely dedicated to refugee children.

One of my biggest schools is located in south Turkey, an area that was heavily impacted by the earthquake. Fortunately, my school is still standing but, sadly, many people in the neighbourhood lost their lives and homes. People are homeless and hungry in severely cold weather.

There are also more people suffering in north Syria, where I have a few trained teachers. We were planning to start a school in one of the camps there, but the earthquake hit and all plans have to be changed. Now, our focus is feeding them! Any donations will be greatly appreciated; regardless of how little, everything helps!

I am putting together food baskets that include canned foods, bread, and dried fruits. There is no gas or electricity to cook.
I also include formula because lots of babies lost their moms.

Please consider donating (use the blue ‘hands’ button above) so we can continue to support these people who have suffered tremendously. Thank you very much, and may God have mercy on all of us!

JULY 2021 UPDATE

The institute in Nizip, south of Turkey, is now open for children between 0-17 years old!

We already have 80 children between 3-6 years old in the Montessori classrooms, as well as a Montessori baby and toddler class for the young children of our employees.
In total, we have 592 enrolled students between 6-17 years old, and they come in groups during the summer holiday, learning Arabic and doing fun activities.
We have employed 23 teachers - earning $95 a month each. In addition, our monthly costs to run the school are approx. $300…. for a total of $2,425 a month.

Please consider DONATING whatever you can afford, towards our monthly expenses. A little goes a long way! And we could not have made it this far without your generous contributions. Thank you all so very much for your continued support!

JUNE 2021 UPDATE

We have completed renovating the building that was given to us by the Turkish government, in Nizip, Southern Turkey. There are three Montessori classrooms - one is already established, and we are in the process of establishing the other two. And there are close to 400 students, between the ages of 6-17, already enrolled in the after school program!

So many thanks to all of the friends and supporters who made generous contributions towards this project and helped make this happen. With special thanks to Childhood Potential, an on-line Montessori conference program, and e-shop MontessoriHracky.cz for donating most of the materials for the second classroom. We’re still working on the third classroom, and this will be for infants and toddlers.

See photos below, for all the hard work that went into renovating this building, and how excited the new students are to be joining the summer program orientation!

MARCH 2021 UPDATE

Maha’s Montessori Mission thanks all the donors for their recent contributions, specifically for the new teaching space in Istanbul. Clean up and renovations are happening and it’s beginning to take shape! Please continue to support this valuable project, as they have a ways to go yet and will need to focus on some furniture and supplies next.

Meanwhile, refugees in North Syria continue to be challenged in their camps; severe rainstorms and snow destroyed over 4,000 tents leaving some 22,000 displaced people. We are working to send supplies and support during this very difficult time.

Please send us a quick email and let us know where you would like your donations prioritized:

1. UIGHER SCHOOL & TRAINING

2. MONTESSORI ELEMENTARY CLASSES IN NIZIP, SOUTH TURKEY

3. PURCHASE OF TENTS FOR REFUGEES IN NORTH SYRIA

2021 UPDATE

• The Uigher Montessori School in Istanbul has been operating successfully since September 2019, instructed by the initial cohort of qualified teachers. Additional refugee adult students are now training under the supervision of the certified teachers to earn their qualifications.

•  In January 2020, Maha started a temporary Montessori classroom training center with the assistance of a very generous U.S. based donor. Despite the COVID 19 challenges; six adult refugees from the South Turkey refugee facility successfully completed both the theory and practicum aspects of their Montessori training.

• Maha’s Montessori Mission recently entered into a long-term arrangement with the local authorities to secure a permanent 4-storey building ideally suited as a full-time Montessori primary and elementary school and training center. The facility will require significant upfront renovation expenses but thereafter will be rent free for the duration of the lease.

2019/2020: The Uighur Montessori School, Istanbul

Uighurs are a largely Muslim ethnic minority group based mainly in China's westernmost Xinjiang region. Over the past several years, the Chinese government has engaged in a campaign of abuse, isolation, re-education and detention against them, causing hundreds of thousands to flee for their lives. The Uighur School in Istanbul is currently training (assisted by a previous graduate of the Istanbul School) 6 newly arrived refugee women to become assistant Montessori teachers. Your financial support would help pay for the teacher stipends as well as a comprehensive children’s library for the school.

Becoming certified as a Montessori Assistant will help empower the women and provide future income and a road to independence. Meanwhile, the 40 students will be given an irreplaceable gift. The gift of an education. Please consider becoming part of this by making a donation today via PayPal.  Write the word UIGHUR in the notes and we will direct it towards this program. Many thanks!

 2019/2020: Montessori School near Karkamish refugee camp, Southern Turkey

MAHA would like to create a special Montessori training for six women who are former residents of this refugee camp and are now living in the vicinity but have not had the opportunity to complete their training. We are seeking partners/financial contributions in order to rent the space to hold the training. Donations can be earmarked ‘Karkamish’. Thank you!

OCTOber 2017

The Center for Guided Montessori Studies, which is affiliated with The International Montessori Council, has partnered with Maha to provide a MACTE (Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education) accredited Early Childhood Teacher Certification program for two groups of Syrian refugees in Jordan and Istanbul. Maha trained over 40 women - 23 of whom eventually became fully certified as Montessori teachers. The Montessori method of Early Education is highly respected in the Middle East and the whole world, so earning this certification is truly empowering for them; it also means that their certifications will be recognized by all schools internationally, and their prospects for future employment are promising.

December 2016

Maha helped open a second school in Istanbul. Currently both schools are thriving with over 40 students between them. A few photos from the Istanbul school...

Summer 2016

They achieved their goal and Maha traveled to Amman, Jordan where she set up the first Montessori school for Syrian refugees in the basement of an apartment building housing displaced widows with children. Here are a few photos from that first school...

Background

Born in Cairo, Egypt, Maha is a mother of three, world traveller and a career teacher who holds a masters degree in early childhood education/Montessori and an undergraduate degree in Egyptology. She was in the process of pursuing her Ph.D. in 2016 when things changed. She decided that academia was not for her. Instead, Maha listened to her students at Somerfield Academy in Bermuda (average age 3-6 years old) - they inspired her to go and physically make a difference and help her fellow humans. 

She wanted to make a difference in the lives of refugee women and children by offering them access to Montessori education and by training adults to become certified teachers. One day, in her own classroom in Bermuda she and her students were discussing the Syrian refugees and the countries that accepted them and the others that did not welcome them. The children decided they wanted to do something to help, by polishing shoes to raise money for Maha's first trip to Jordan.

We happened to meet Maha in Jordan, while working on another HADAYA project, and were so impressed by what she was trying to do that we vowed right then and there to help her in any way we could.