Help my children to go to school in safer area
Donation protected
Help us to move to a safer area, and help my children to go to school, when we leave Great Britain to go to Iraq
Tagline: Please help me and my family move to a safer part of Iraq after my PhD.
I am from a war-zone in Iraq. In 2014, I was awarded a scholarship to study in the UK for a PhD in Structural Engineering. I specialise in Bridges Assessment.
My studies will help me to rebuild my country’s bridges and buildings, which have been destroyed in years of war. When I finish my PhD in September, my wife and I will move back to Iraq with our four children.
But it is not safe for us to return to our home town.
The city of Anbar, where we came from, is still a war-zone. Our house in Anbar has been destroyed. A dear friend was recently killed, along with his family of eight people. The civil war threatens us daily with kidnapping, bombing, and killing.
In addition, my young children have lived in the UK since 2014 and do not speak Iraqi.
So, we are going to try to move to Kurdistan, a safer place in the north of Iraq. We also hope to find funding so that my children can go to an English-speaking school in Kurdistan.
Every penny you give us will help us move. If we cannot find funding to move, my family will lose their future, their access to education, and we will be in danger. We cannot simply “go home”, as we have nothing left to return to.
Please help my children to continue in school, and help my family to live without the threat of bombing and kidnapping, while I work to rebuild my home country. Thank you.
FAQs:
What is your name?
My name is Jalil Kwad. I am from a city in Iraq, named Anbar.
Where do you live now?
I live in Devon, in the South-West of England, with my wife and four children.
Do you work?
I am a full-time PhD student at the University of Exeter as well as looking after my family. However, as an international student based on my visa restriction, I can only work for a limited amount of hours for term times only.
How old are your children?
Our son, Hamzah, is 13 years old.
Our daughter Maali is 11.
And our two little boys, Maher, aged 7, and Araz, who is just 8 months old.
How did you move to Britain?
I was awarded a scholarship to study Structural Engineering at the University of Exeter. I won the scholarship due to hard work and excellent academic performance. We arrived in 2014.
Who is paying for your education in the UK and for what period?
The scholarship was funded by the Iraq government for 3.5 years.
Does your scholarship cover your family?
The scholarship covers only me, while I use it to look after my family too.
What will you do with your PhD in Structural Engineering?
I will be working to rebuild the buildings and bridges in my country, destroyed and damaged in war.
The war is not over in Iraq: my home-town of Anbar is still a warzone.
So you can’t go back to your home-town?
My own house was recently destroyed. Our friends were killed, and their family of eight people. The north of Iraq (Kurdistan) is safer.
If Iraq is so dangerous, why don’t you stay in Britain?
To be honest, we would love to. But it isn’t our choice.
When does your PhD finish?
I graduate in September. So, the situation is urgent.
When my PhD finishes, we are required to return to Iraq.
What are they like?
Hamzah (aged 13) loves playing football with his English friends. He is very excited about choosing his GCSE subjects, but he will never take these subjects because they are not available in Iraq.
Maali (aged 11) loves art and poetry. She recently had a poem printed in a school anthology. She is trying to win a Golden Peter badge, and is learning to play guitar. She loves playing with her friends in the park after school.
She is given special help at school because she has something wrong with her eyes. This support will not be available in Iraqi schools, and Maali might suffer because of it.
Maher (aged 7) recently won a prize for being the kindest boy in the school. He loves playing with his friends.
Our baby, Araz (8 months) has brown hair and eyes. He is a sweet, happy baby.
Why can’t they go to school in Iraq?
Iraqi schools have mostly been destroyed by the war so there are not enough of them. There are now 70 children in a class, no internet and no air conditioning in temperatures of 50 degrees. Children have 4 hours of schooling per day, Boys go to school from 8am-noon and girls go from noon-4pm.
For four hours, the teacher talks while the children listen (very different to UK schools, which are interactive). Our children will not be able to understand these lessons as they are not in English.
Our children have been in school in England for 5 years. We would like to send them to an English-speaking school in Kurdistan (Northern Iraq), so they can have lessons in a language they understand, and so the disruption and culture shock of leaving school in England won’t be so severe.
English-speaking school fees in Kurdistan are about £5000 per child per year. This is why we are trying to raise as much money as we can. and why we have three levels of funding goals:
How will you use the funding?
1st Goal: £15,000. This will enable us to move to Kurdistan, which is less dangerous than Anbar, and where there are English-speaking schools for (1) years.
2nd Goal: £15,000. This will fund moving, and our children can go to school in Kurdistan for (2) years.
3rd goal: £15,000. We will be able to live in a safe location, and allow the children to go to school until they are 16 / to complete their GCSES.
Thank you for supporting us. Please share this appeal.
We want our children to have opportunities, and to be able to go to school in a language they understand.
When we leave England, they will lose their friends and their home, and everything they know. We don’t want them to suffer any more shock, and we don’t want to put them in danger by returning to Anbar. Northern Iraq is a safer place to go.
Please help us to fund this. Thank you for every penny, and thank you for sharing this appeal on Facebook, Twitter, PMs, blogs, and your local communities.
We have loved being part of our community in Devon, and we will miss you all very much.
Tagline: Please help me and my family move to a safer part of Iraq after my PhD.
I am from a war-zone in Iraq. In 2014, I was awarded a scholarship to study in the UK for a PhD in Structural Engineering. I specialise in Bridges Assessment.
My studies will help me to rebuild my country’s bridges and buildings, which have been destroyed in years of war. When I finish my PhD in September, my wife and I will move back to Iraq with our four children.
But it is not safe for us to return to our home town.
The city of Anbar, where we came from, is still a war-zone. Our house in Anbar has been destroyed. A dear friend was recently killed, along with his family of eight people. The civil war threatens us daily with kidnapping, bombing, and killing.
In addition, my young children have lived in the UK since 2014 and do not speak Iraqi.
So, we are going to try to move to Kurdistan, a safer place in the north of Iraq. We also hope to find funding so that my children can go to an English-speaking school in Kurdistan.
Every penny you give us will help us move. If we cannot find funding to move, my family will lose their future, their access to education, and we will be in danger. We cannot simply “go home”, as we have nothing left to return to.
Please help my children to continue in school, and help my family to live without the threat of bombing and kidnapping, while I work to rebuild my home country. Thank you.
FAQs:
What is your name?
My name is Jalil Kwad. I am from a city in Iraq, named Anbar.
Where do you live now?
I live in Devon, in the South-West of England, with my wife and four children.
Do you work?
I am a full-time PhD student at the University of Exeter as well as looking after my family. However, as an international student based on my visa restriction, I can only work for a limited amount of hours for term times only.
How old are your children?
Our son, Hamzah, is 13 years old.
Our daughter Maali is 11.
And our two little boys, Maher, aged 7, and Araz, who is just 8 months old.
How did you move to Britain?
I was awarded a scholarship to study Structural Engineering at the University of Exeter. I won the scholarship due to hard work and excellent academic performance. We arrived in 2014.
Who is paying for your education in the UK and for what period?
The scholarship was funded by the Iraq government for 3.5 years.
Does your scholarship cover your family?
The scholarship covers only me, while I use it to look after my family too.
What will you do with your PhD in Structural Engineering?
I will be working to rebuild the buildings and bridges in my country, destroyed and damaged in war.
The war is not over in Iraq: my home-town of Anbar is still a warzone.
So you can’t go back to your home-town?
My own house was recently destroyed. Our friends were killed, and their family of eight people. The north of Iraq (Kurdistan) is safer.
If Iraq is so dangerous, why don’t you stay in Britain?
To be honest, we would love to. But it isn’t our choice.
When does your PhD finish?
I graduate in September. So, the situation is urgent.
When my PhD finishes, we are required to return to Iraq.
What are they like?
Hamzah (aged 13) loves playing football with his English friends. He is very excited about choosing his GCSE subjects, but he will never take these subjects because they are not available in Iraq.
Maali (aged 11) loves art and poetry. She recently had a poem printed in a school anthology. She is trying to win a Golden Peter badge, and is learning to play guitar. She loves playing with her friends in the park after school.
She is given special help at school because she has something wrong with her eyes. This support will not be available in Iraqi schools, and Maali might suffer because of it.
Maher (aged 7) recently won a prize for being the kindest boy in the school. He loves playing with his friends.
Our baby, Araz (8 months) has brown hair and eyes. He is a sweet, happy baby.
Why can’t they go to school in Iraq?
Iraqi schools have mostly been destroyed by the war so there are not enough of them. There are now 70 children in a class, no internet and no air conditioning in temperatures of 50 degrees. Children have 4 hours of schooling per day, Boys go to school from 8am-noon and girls go from noon-4pm.
For four hours, the teacher talks while the children listen (very different to UK schools, which are interactive). Our children will not be able to understand these lessons as they are not in English.
Our children have been in school in England for 5 years. We would like to send them to an English-speaking school in Kurdistan (Northern Iraq), so they can have lessons in a language they understand, and so the disruption and culture shock of leaving school in England won’t be so severe.
English-speaking school fees in Kurdistan are about £5000 per child per year. This is why we are trying to raise as much money as we can. and why we have three levels of funding goals:
How will you use the funding?
1st Goal: £15,000. This will enable us to move to Kurdistan, which is less dangerous than Anbar, and where there are English-speaking schools for (1) years.
2nd Goal: £15,000. This will fund moving, and our children can go to school in Kurdistan for (2) years.
3rd goal: £15,000. We will be able to live in a safe location, and allow the children to go to school until they are 16 / to complete their GCSES.
Thank you for supporting us. Please share this appeal.
We want our children to have opportunities, and to be able to go to school in a language they understand.
When we leave England, they will lose their friends and their home, and everything they know. We don’t want them to suffer any more shock, and we don’t want to put them in danger by returning to Anbar. Northern Iraq is a safer place to go.
Please help us to fund this. Thank you for every penny, and thank you for sharing this appeal on Facebook, Twitter, PMs, blogs, and your local communities.
We have loved being part of our community in Devon, and we will miss you all very much.
Organizer
Jalil Almawla
Organizer
England
