Student Profiles: Helin
Helin’s big doe-shaped eyes convey aspects of her personality that her shy words often do not. The mischief in them reveals a hidden self with a glint that appears before a breakthrough idea. Behind the shyness is a girl with a deep sense of compassion and understanding.
Helin was only 10 years old when she, her four siblings, and her parents fled their home in Hasakah, Syria. They headed eastward towards Kurdistan, hoping to find refuge. They traveled through the mountains, often on foot, crossing through fields embedded with landmines and living temporarily in makeshift camps. Sometimes they slept in tented camps. Once they found shelter in an abandoned school. Eventually, they made their way to Arbat Refugee Camp deep in Iraqi Kurdistan. It’s easy to lose hope when the only home you knew growing up is gone and the future is a long stretch of utter misery in godforsaken places. Helin found herself wondering how things could possibly get worse; she doubted that they would get better.
Helin was 16 years old when she joined our program in the summer of 2019. Barely over five feet tall then, her feet could not touch the floor as she sat in a standard school chair. She was quiet at first and did not participate much, but her big eyes would betray her. Every time our instructor Mohammed would challenge the class, you could see Helin’s big eyes do a lap search for the answers in the lecture, working out the answers in her head.
Throughout that first summer with us, Helin began to build her confidence and awaken a competitive edge that was dormant in her. She led her group to victory in a design thinking challenge, where her innovation and creativity shined through. Helin was recognized as “The Most Eager to Learn'' at the end of the summer program.
“Life is full of difficulties and everyone dreams of becoming something in the future. I have encountered many difficulties, but I have realized my dream that I dreamed of since my childhood was to be a journalist. ”
Too often in the work of humanitarian aid, our need to track measurable data distracts us from the profound impact challenges and simple recognition has on youth. That summer, we added a series of competitive elements to our programming and both the individual students and groups were awarded with medals and trophies. The pride we saw in our students from winning these medals and trophies is hard to capture in data sets, but the unmitigated pride and confidence we saw is as important as any data point. Helin was so proud of her trophy, not only did she pantomime drinking from it, she said she would sleep with it that night.
We have seen Helin flourish over the past two years. She is deepening her hard skills such as media and digital literacy. She is also developing soft skills such as empathy and deep listening. She is now unafraid to share her opinions and understands her strengths as a future leader. Her compassion is constantly evolving, as evidenced by the pigeon she single-handedly rescued and nursed to health. Exposure to new technologies has grown her obsession with Apple products. Now, she follows every launch date and stays updated on the features that come with each product.
Through another enrichment program, Helin enrolled in a photography course. Three of her photographs were exhibited as part of a public celebration of the program. During the opening, Helin stood in front of a crowd and eloquently explained her work that featured other children in the camp. She said she would not have entered the photography course, the exhibition, or be able to speak in front of such a large audience without everything she learned in Hello Future.
Covid made hard lives harder and increased Helin’s responsibilities at home. Helin dropped out of high school her senior year, but is continuing with Hello Future courses. In addition, she has found her first paid job as Hello Future’s in-class photographer. She is earning while doing something that she is passionate about, developing her skills, and working towards her goal of becoming a photojournalist. Helin is settling into her new role at Hello Future. As she helps out in the classroom and photographs the ongoing events, the younger students call her “Miss Helin,” giving her a sense of pride and confidence that further extends beyond trophies and medals.
