Trauma in the ClassroomTogether, we are developing a teacher’s guide to compassionately address PTSD-like symptoms in the classroom.

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IN THIS ISSUE

Nepal: Education Cannot Wait....................2Meet George and Anne...............................4A Teacher’s Guide to Trauma......................4 Photo: Nepali students wait to receive scholarships after the 2015 earthquake destroyed their school and increased child-trafficking within their region

Nepal Response The 2015 earthquake that rocked Nepal is still affecting its children. A temporary learning center and program to combat child-trafficking is empowering girls in one of the worst-hit areas.

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TENT SCHOOLS INTERNATIONALQUARTERLY NEWSLETTER / SUMMER 2016

Dear Friend,

You’ve seen it and read about it. You feel compassionate, but sense this mega refugee crisis is too overwhelming to do something from where you are. You are tempted to turn off the news. You can do something. Our Lebanese partners, George and Anne, while setting up tent schools in Lebanon’s refugee camps, called our attention to a condition as debilitating as hunger.

“The escalating violence in Syria has forced hundreds of thousands of children to flee their homes for neighboring countries. Many have been deeply affected by the horrors they’ve experienced or witnessed,” they report.

The condition is trauma, and we are working with partners in Nepal, Lebanon and other areas of the world to provide schools, technology, and curriculum that will enable educators to address trauma-related symptoms in the classroom, re-opening the door to learning for hundreds of displaced children.

Join us, knowing you are doing something of importance and impact during this global crisis, in Jesus’ name.

DaleDale Dieleman, Vice President

2 TENT SCHOOLS INTERNATIONAL

On April 25, 2015, a massive earthquake struck Nepal. More than 25,000 classrooms were destroyed by the 7.8 magnitude quake and its aftershocks, killing more than 8,000 people nationwide. Many schools were rebuilt temporarily using bamboo, wood and tarps, while classes focused on group activities to help children recover from trauma after the disaster. In the worst-hit districts, it was estimated that 90% of schools were destroyed by the quake.

In addition to the lapse in learning, children who have been out of school for long periods are at higher risk for child labor, child marriage and sexual exploitation. Nepal state radio broadcasted warnings to parents after the disaster that child traffickers were exploiting the earthquake’s fallout, taking advantage of the thousands of newly homeless kids on the

streets and lifting them from their communities to sell them into India. A report released by the UN’s Special Envoy for Global Education stated: “This serious threat is yet one more reason why it is imperative to get children back into school.”

A Tent Schools International (TSI) partnership in Nepal had developed soon before the earthquake hit, and the disaster added urgency to the need for educational funding there. With your support, TSI sent funding to re-start a destroyed school and provide scholarships for girls at risk of trafficking to attend a temporary learning center and training programs in the hard-hit Sindhupalchok district.

Here is a report from our contact in Nepal, Karin Feltman, staff of the Temporary Learning Center (TLC) program in the village of Ichok.

Nepal: Education Cannot WaitThe 2015 earthquake not only destroyed schools; it put thousands of children, especially girls, at risk of being kidnapped and trafficked into India. One partnership is bringing education and anti-trafficking training to one of the hardest-hit areas of Nepal.

Scholarship recipients in Ichok, Nepal

Children from Sindhupalchok, Nepal wait for toys and school supplies

model in my village.” Her mother is HIV positive and very ill. Abina Tamang, age 10, also has a mother suffering from HIV and who was a victim of sex trafficking herself. Anglo Tamang was only seven years old, but she has already been rescued from trafficking and is HIV positive. In this village there are more than 50 HIV positive women due to the effects of sex trafficking. The girls in this village long for a different life, a life of hope. They want to become successful and inspire others in their village that they can do the same.

As of this school year, all of the girls receiving the scholarships are not only still in school but all of them passed their exams!

Here are some pictures of the children who were able to go back to school because of this project. I hope they make you smile. Thank you! – KARIN FELTMAN

*Tamang is a caste/people group, so most members of this group have the last name Tamang or Lama.

Thank you for re-igniting hope for displaced children and at-risk girls in Nepal through education!

TENT SCHOOLS INTERNATIONAL 3

PARTNER REPORTBy Karin FeltmanTLC Program, Nepal

Sindhupalchok is not only the largest source area for human trafficking in Nepal,

but it was also the area hardest hit by the earthquakes in 2015.

The village of Ichok is an area with poor school enrollment levels and even worse finishing rates, especially for girls. Less than 40% of girls are ever enrolled, and less than 13% complete 9th grade. Families have little motivation to keep their girls in school, and instead send them to Bombay, India, to work in the brothels and make money for the family.

Nearly all of the kids in the two villages where I work are displaced, or at the very least, living in shelters in their own village. Both of the schools in the area were destroyed by the earthquake. One village is attending school in a tent, another in a temporary school shelter. Many families either kept their children out of school at that point, or sent them away for education in other areas.

A bus of 25 children from Sindhupalchok who believed they were going away for school was intercepted at the border to India and it was found that they

were in the process of being trafficked. Story after story like this is surfacing.

After the earthquakes, we used funding from Tent Schools International combined with disaster relief funding to outfit the destroyed school in Ichok so that it could begin educating 400 children again. We provided scholarships and supplies for 32 at-risk girls to attend school there who normally may not have had the chance. We also provided women’s health training to all the girls and women in the village as well as anti-trafficking awareness training.

Our program aims to motivate parents to enroll their girls in school, and to keep them there until completion - and later send them through a job training program so that they have the opportunity to earn money for themselves and their families without entering the forced labor or sex industries. We have

a monitoring system in place to ensure that we are notified if any of the recipients have stopped attending school.

The stories of these children are heartbreaking. Pramila Tamang*, age 12, is a young girl who desires to “continue my studies and be a role

The names of 12 of the Ichok girls receiving scholarships

A bus of 25 children who believed they were going away for school was intercepted at the border to India. It was found that they were in the process of being trafficked.

Children from Sindhupalchok, Nepal wait for toys and school supplies

Feltman presents a TSI scholarship to a Nepali student

to South America to work as missionaries, and while there, Anne and I got married. After three months together, we felt the Lord leading us to go to Bangladesh, which we did in the summer of the year 2000. We served there for six years. By God’s grace we were able to plant five churches and five schools for children in need.

In 2007, we felt it was time for us to leave Bangladesh and serve in the Middle East, so we moved to my home country of Lebanon. Here, we are involved in helping Syrian and Iraqi refugees, running two tent schools and a clinic. Recently, we began reaching out to Christian Syrian refugees within Syria, where I make a monthly trip. About a year and half ago, we started our own church that people from every background are welcome to attend. Now, we are partnering with Tent Schools International to launch a new tent school for refugee children in Bekaa Valley, an area where there are very few options for education. Together, we can come alongside George and Anne in the important work of providing an educational option for displaced children in Bekaa Valley. Join us by giving today:tentschoolsint.org/give.

country was being ravaged by the civil war. At the age of 15, I became involved with the militia. I was trained to hate, to despise people and to fight, which I did. In October of 1989, I was able to get a tourist visa to leave for France. In order to stay I had to find a job quickly. A pastor, who owned a cabinet-making factory and was a friend of my cousin’s, hired me. He invited me several times to church and I was saved in the spring of 1990.

I spent four years in France, and then I felt that God was calling me to ministry. I came to Oklahoma and went to a Bible college in the town of Shawnee. This is where I met Anne, who also attended there. She has lived in Africa and in Israel, and she is a qualified teacher.After graduating, we went

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Tent Schools International™A / 629 Ionia Ave. SW

Grand Rapids, MI 49503P / (616) 531-9102

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PRESIDENTScott Vander Kooy svanderkooy@tentschoolsint.org

VICE PRESIDENT Dale Dieleman ddieleman@tentschoolsint.org

COMMUNICATIONSEmily Klooster eklooster@tentschoolsint.org

DEVELOPMENTVonda Wiltjer vwiltjer@tentschoolsint.org

DONOR SERVICES Karen Hilverda khilverda@tentschoolsint.org

OUR MISSION TENT SCHOOLS INTERNATIONAL™

demonstrates the love of Jesus Christ for displaced children by providing safe,

compassionate learning environments that exchange chaos and loss for

peace and opportunity.

Relief organizations have found that over 90% of refugees, especially children, suffer from some form of Post-Traumatic

Stress Disorder (PTSD). In response, TSI is developing a practical guide that will equip teachers to compassionately address trauma-related barriers to learning within their classrooms. Join our team, including George, Anne and their teaching staff, by contributing to this project that will directly impact refugee children in the camps. Learn more at www.tentschoolsint.org.

A Teacher’s Guide to Trauma

Formerly Worldwide Christian Schools®

Sponsor the “Teacher’s Guide to PTSD” at TENTSCHOOLSINT.ORG/GIVE.

Meet George and Anne OUR PARTNERS IN BEKAA VALLEY, LEBANON

Alongside George, Anne and their organization*, Tent Schools International (TSI) is raising funds to establish a new school in Bekaa Valley, an area with the highest concentration of refugees in the country. Here is their story:

My name is George and I am originally from Lebanon. I am married to Anne, and she is from France. We have three kids.I grew up in Lebanon when the *Name withheld to protect our partners