Cosi ’26, partners up with a non profit in Amman, Jordan to teach squash and English to Syrian refugees and underprivileged Jordanian girls.
I have traveled to Amman to teach squash and English to Syrian refugees and underprivileged Jordanian girls as part of the Squash Dreamers program. I first learned about this program when I attended King’s Academy in Jordan last year.
The overall mission is to break the cycle of poverty and to enroll this at-risk population into high quality secondary schools in Jordan, Europe, the US, and Canada. Through the development of the girl’s squash skills, Squash Dreamers acts as a pathway to success and to decrease the likelihood of involvement in child labor, forced marriage, and extremism.
Aside from the grant I received from Deerfield, I have raised around $10,000 of private donations, directly funding the program and supporting the girl’s international travels.
The UNHCR reports that worldwide, “two-thirds of refugees children in primary school don’t go on to secondary education and only 1 percent go on to higher education.” Jordan is home to almost 730,000 Syrian refugees, nearly half of them under the age of 15, most of whom fled their country’s civil war with few possessions.
So far, I have met incredible girls from Jordan, Syria, and Sudan who are all very eager to improve their English and squash. Their kindness, enthusiasm, and intelligence has made me very excited to continue working with this group of young women!
