Help Send MS8 Reps to Jordan

We are two New York City public school teachers who have worked on a project at our school in Brooklyn which started with educating our students and community about the Syrian Civil War and the Refugee Crisis connected to the war.  Along with 50 other schools in New York City, our school collected donations that filled two containers that are being sent to camps with Syrian Refugees in Jordan.  The containers and donations have been organized with the United Muslim Relief.  Throughout the process, our students took ownership by reaching out to our community, raising funds with a bake sale, and packing and organizing boxes of school supplies. 

As representatives of the PS/MS 8 community, we would like to continue this project by visiting the camp where our community's impact can be seen in order to continue our students' work by distributing donations and interacting with people who have been displaced due to the Syrian Civil War.  Along with other educators from New York City, we will be flying to Amman, Jordan and visiting three camps to help distribute our donations and learn more about the experiences of people displaced from their homes due to the Syrian Civil War.  Part of the work will be to interact with children in the camps through sports and arts and crafts.  

We are asking members of our PS/MS8 community to contribute to our effort to go to Jordan and follow our donations to their final destination.  Donations to this GoFundMe page will contribute to our flight and housing in Jordan.  

We are excited to follow through with this project and use our experiences to inform our curriculum and instruction for 7th and 8th grade Social Studies in the upcoming school year and beyond. Thank you in advance for your support and dedication to our local and global community. 

- Janice Manning and Ariana Kalpaxis