Who We Are
Refugee Learning Nest (the Nest) was establish in March 2015 by refugees for refugees.
Refugees in Indonesia are from different countries such as Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Burma, Sudan, China, Pakistan and other countries. They took refuge in Indonesia due to numerous forms of discrimination and lack of security and not having any safe place to live. After registration with UNHCR as an asylum seeker, people have to stay here over 3-4 years to resettle to a third country. In these 3-4 years they're being deprived from plenty of their basic rights, the right to study and work.
When they have so much time on their hands that they have no idea how to use it or they don't have the opportunities, soon depression will entirely possess them physically and mentally. Instated of being active, they spend more than half of their time sleeping, and in the future for the third country, they're just going to be known as “burdens”. What we are doing is to encourage refugees and asylum seekers, to join the Nest as a volunteer or student.
Not having the opportunity to study or work is extremely hard, and depression is one of the most dangerous illness which have been known in history. Therefore, we established the Nest one and half year ago.
Our Project
The Nest provides children’s education, Tailoring and literacy projects for women and men who have previously lacked opportunities, including football.
The aim of the project is to improve the welfare of the refugee community through provision of various activities and informal learning. It is based on volunteer engagement and community involvement. Refugees from diverse backgrounds are welcome at the Nest to work in different fields and learn more. The Nest is a community-based project, therefore it belongs to people from all races, nationalities, religions and countries. We are happy to be transparent and work with all refugees, including children. The Nest works through the co-operation and support of our community to become a sustainable and lasting project.
- Children’s Education
The Nest provides education to a large number of children, who are from diverse backgrounds and different countries such as Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. We teach five major subjects in modern methodologies, which are Mathematics, General Science, Visual Arts, Computer and English, but unfortunately we cannot deliver completely the lessons to the students due to lack of facilities.
- Women’s Literacy Education
In addition to children’s education, there is a high demand from a large number of women who do not have access to education. These women come from different backgrounds and many have been oppressed in their home country and were prevented from accessing education in the past. The Nest conducts literacy classes for these women in our afternoon shift as an attempt to overcome some of the stress faced by women who are waiting for resettlement to a third country. This opportunity is vital for women’s empowerment for their futures.
- Tailoring classes
This class is conducted on the basis of community needs and is of high interest to them. The aim in conducting this class is to share skills, knowledge and experiences of tailoring and making cloths. All the students are women, they attend with a lot of interest on their classes, they bring their own fabrics and learn how to sew and make cloths. A couple from the refugee community supervise the classes and it is very popular.
- Football
A large number of women, children and adults enjoy playing football. A volunteer coach who belongs to refugee community supervise these athletes. The benefits of team sports are numerous including physical exercise, increased emotional well being and a healthy spirit of community togetherness. The coach is trying his best to train the students on the Nest’s playground, but they cannot utilize the ground very well due to shortage of space. The students have to wait for days to get the chance to play at school’s playground, many times the students have requested us to provide them a wider playground but due to our financial problems, the answer of providing a better playground in soon future is now something impossible to be true for them.
Why It Matters
Refugees in Indonesia, don't have the right to work or study, despite the fact that these are basic human rights that every single human being should have access to. They're facing an unknown future during their resettlement process, and living in this unknown situation has brought depression and disappointment in their lives.
The Nest has been the light of the hope for refugees and has given them hope for continuation of life in a better way.
The Nest was established by the refugees for the refugees and the Nest belong to refugees and asylum seekers, and every single refugee and asylum seeker have the chance to utilize their abilities for a higher purpose.
The Nest has brought unity on refugees’ life.
Before establishment of the Nest, refugees were scared to do any kind of activity or even study because they thought maybe it could have bad effects on their resettlement process, but we have showed all that education is our right and every community can make an educational opportunity by their human resources as we did.
How you can help
Now we have passed one and half year since the beginning, but continuation of our project depends on your supports. So please, don’t hesitate your support to the Nest even $“5”.
Please, for sustainability of the Nest and improvement of the refugee children deprived from education, we need charitable hands.