
Osama: "My success is due to the fact that my sister helped me in math before school. So, I memorised the multiplication tables before starting school."
Sheima: "In fact, he was of help. Because I'm not keen on math. I mean, I can't figure out math. I show him questions that I can't answer. He is helpful. Yet, I am fluent in Turkish, for example.
“Foreign nationals make up one-fifth of the students at Erol Battal Middle School in Istanbul’s Bagcilar district. Teachers work hard to ensure student unity. The story of Syrian Sheima and Osama, on the other hand, illustrates how kids always find a way: spontaneously and “childishly."
There was a lot of war there. In fact, when we returned home one time, the house next door was completely gone; it had been bombed. We set out at night. We drove somewhere one day. We then walked for 1-2 hours from there. I mean, our arms and hands were all wounded.”
This is how Sheima al-Huseyni, her school's third best student, describes their arrival in Turkey. Her tone is not gloomy. As she was detailing the destroyed building, she could not help but make fun of her brother, saying, "When we arrived home, his face was like a lemon. It was really funny."
Sheima fell behind in school for a time during the migration process. As a result, she is now in the same grade as her younger brother, Osama. What happened on the first day of school demonstrates their relationship.
Teacher, sibling, friend…
Osama, who came from behind, passed her sister and moved up to the second rank in school. They also astound when they talk about their success. No bragging, no big words. One says his sister helped him, while the other says her brother.
Osama: My success is due to the fact that my sister helped me in math before school. So, I memorised the multiplication tables before starting school.
Sheima: In fact, he was of help. Because I'm not keen on math. I mean, I can't figure out math. I show him questions that I can't answer. He is helpful. Yet, I am fluent in Turkish, for example.
So, how did they learn to speak Turkish so well? Of course, the school environment and their selfless effort have been effective. But, according to them, the explanation is much simpler: their friends have taken care of them since the beginning and accepted them. Osama says:
“I felt strange on the first day of school. Because I mean, I didn't have any friends. So generally, when a newcomer enters, they are a bit alienated.”
“But the first day I came, everyone asked me to sit next to them. Then I sat next to a friend, so we started chatting instantly. We never waited to be friends and just started talking straightaway.”
Learning how to share
This appears to have continued. At recess, it's impossible to catch Osama and Sheima alone. They are always in the company of their peers. Children in groups on the schoolyard, rising laughter in the centre.
Nonetheless, Osama and Sheima are always a little more serious and thoughtful than the other children in the circle. "Is it the camera's effect?" Their teacher, whom we asked, says, "No, they've always been like this.”
In the classroom, their smiles give way to an almost adult solemnity. It's like saying, "We don't have time to waste."
Although they don't often talk about it, according to assistant principal and phys ed teacher Lütfiye Ercimen, their experiences in Syria and later during the migration process have a significant impact on how they behave:
"They only want to study and help their mother. They most likely had a hard life there.”
“Sheima is extremely motivated and devoted to volleyball. She is as successful and disciplined in volleyball as she is in school. The same is true for Osama. In basketball, he is the same. He attends basketball practice.”
“They are quite dignified, to start. One solves a test book, deletes the questions and answers, and then the other solves it. They have mastered the art of sharing things equally. And yet, they never accept our help."
Being a teacher isn't enough.
Osama prefers the basketball hoop, while Sheima prefers the volleyball net. The noises of balls are never far from the school's garden: "Throw, pass, hit!” The voices of the children echo off the facades of the modest apartments that surround the garden.
The majority of the children are from this community. According to school principal Leyla Ünsal, most families are primary or secondary school graduates, and the majority of them work for minimum wage.
"Foreign students make up between 15 to 20 percent of our student body. The fact that our students are foreign nationals and from low socio-economic backgrounds is certainly challenging for teachers. It’s more difficult to bring students from diverse cultures together on common ground than it is in less complex schools.”
In this picture, Leyla underlines that being a teacher is not enough. They should be dedicated and participate in extracurricular activities for students. The Turkish lessons implemented as part of the PİKTES project are perhaps the most important of them.
The EU's PIKTES project to help the integration of Syrian children into the Turkish education system aims to improve access to education for Syrian children and to help the Ministry of National Education in its efforts to integrate children into the school system.
As Osama used to say, "We never waited to be friends." It is as if that method was taken as a model in Turkish lessons.
Turkish teacher Çetin Öztürk is also among those who are not content with being only a teacher:
"We saw that our foreign students were unable to express themselves effectively in class. We also saw that they were unable to have the necessary conversation with a group of friends.
To help students with these issues, we also try to foster extracurricular dialogues based on Turkish texts, and even make these dialogues funny by acting them out among us.”
"Over time and the performance of their friends, students who initially did not want to attend the class or who were mute started to see that drive in themselves. They began to feel more confident.
They became more comfortable expressing themselves. Possibly, they weren't like this when they first arrived in Turkey. They can now occasionally participate more actively in class than Turkish students. They can even make better sentences than them.”
Once more, with a smile...
Osama is a huge computer fan. Aside from basketball, his favourite pastime is playing coding games on his phone. He wishes to work as a computer engineer.
Sheima, on the other hand, is a bit unsure. "Like Osama, I plan to major in computer engineering." "Or I'll be a pilot," she says.
Because of the seriousness in their expressions, it's difficult to discern if they're talking about their dreams or their ambitions. "Why become a pilot?" "Because I don't know, I guess because it's such a great feeling to soar above the clouds," Sheima replies, smiling again.
Following that comes music, which is both of their favourite subject. "Come, come, allow your pain to fade," the song they're working on says. Yet, the expressions remain solemn.
"OK, one more time," the music teacher adds, "but this time with a titter!"