By Kiwiana Ngabung – EMTV Online, Port Moresby
Dubbed as the “Malala of Syria”, 17-year old Mazoun Almellehan is living a new life – a life away from war-stricken Syria.
Mazoun is an advocate of educating girls in refugee camps; a work she’s been doing for two years, after fleeing to Jordan with her family in 2013.
In an interview with CNN earlier this year, Mazoun told of how, while living in the refugee camp, she noticed that many parents wanted their daughters to drop out of school and get married.
“I [also] started to notice an absence of girls daily from the school, and other girls would drop out.”
She says, “If we get opportunities to get education in the refugee camp we should seize the opportunity. We shouldn’t waste it to chase other things that we can achieve later in life.
“Education will solve a lot of problems in our lives. We can’t do much in our lives if we are uneducated.”
One of her greatest concerns is child brides.
She explains in a BBC interview that because of their customs and traditions, parents think education is not important. They (parents) believe marrying off their daughters will help them get a good future.
Mazoun now lives in Britain with her family, who are among the first to go to the UK from Syria’s borders. She’s joined Malala and they are both now schoolgirls.
Mazoun and Malala will be launching a project for Syrian girls’ education, in February next year.
“We want a Malala-Mazoun army to inspire young girls to stand up for their rights,” Malala announces. “We always wanted to work together and now we can.”
This isn’t the first time the two have met.
In 2013, Malala travelled to Syria in an attempt to meet refugees escaping the war when she heard about her now new friend. They met in February 2014 and a few months later, Muzoun attended Malala’s Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony in Oslo.
According to a policy report by Marta Guasp Teschendorff from the United Nations University, titled Education in Syria: a catalyst to girls’ well-being under risk, refugee “girls, the ones who get married are more likely to stop their education and those who drop out of school are more likely to marry (Save the Children, 2014). Child marriage is in fact closely linked to traditional gender roles and inequalities, where a girl’s value is largely determined by her upholding family honour, having children and remaining at home (Save the Children, 2014b). Therefore, especially for girls, education is key.”
This is exactly the reason why Mazoun is adamant in campaigning for Syrian girls’ education.
“We should not lose hope, no matter how difficult life is we have to be optimistic. The future is unknown to us and we should look to the future with hope and ambition,” Mazoun says.
