Moayad had the Will; LOST paved the Way

Moayad Dersany (16 years old) is one of millions of Syrian youth who, because of the Cross-the-Country Crisis, have been displaced from their social environments and everyday life to be left for their own destiny. Moayad and his family roamed over Lebanon 2 years ago and shifted houses across Lebanon until they settled to Baalbeck. Being ambitious and smart, neither Moayad nor his supportive mom missed the chances  to have him back at school. So he attended a local school where he resumed studying. Unfortunately, Moayad got himself expelled shortly afterwards due to a misunderstanding with a teacher. While out of school Moayad's interest in going back to school drastically declined as he helped his father; the tractor mechanic, in his job. It seemed that his ambition of becoming a mechanical engineer one day was a farfetched fantasy. Even worse Moayad lost motivation and became a dark shade of the onetime cheerful young man he was.

In February 2016 Moayad met Eva Debs, a supervisor in the “Learning and Skills Program for Syrian Refugees and Lebanese Youth” project, implemented by the Lebanese Organization for Studies and Training (LOST) in partnership with UNICEF. He was less likely to join the training as he did not really contemplate any education or training form, but Eva had multiple dialogues and discussions with him and eventually got him to join. On March 15th classes started, Moayad was truly committed and attended trainings daily, he took an Individual and social skill course. Over the course of the next few days Moayad, the usually shy isolated kid started to blossom and connect with his peers, he began to display great understanding of the skills he acquired, and looked the part in energizing his peers. The next thing we knew, Moayad comes up to Eva and announces that he intends to go back to school!

"I have set my mind back to finishing my education" Moayad stated. “I was willing to postpone my studies, but now I am more focused and willing to study until I become the mechanical engineer of my dreams” he added. Moayad’s relationship with his peers improved, he made new friends, and his communication with his parents is better as well. He stated that if they remain in Lebanon for next year, he would definitely join any capacity building training, LOST will offer and invite his friends as well. Perhaps the most inspiring thing he said was: “At the beginning I loved to come to the training just to fill up my spare time and meet new friends, but now I am a more focused, energized person that has a goal”.

LOST and UNICEF always seek to have this impact on an adolescents life and destiny, to keep the instinct and hunger of learning alive in all youth and children worldwide, because all children deserve to get an education, to dream big, to fulfill their ambitions and to have someone guiding them through.