Using fun to fit in
Young Syrian refugees learn circus arts to adapt to new life abroad
MARDIN, Turkey — Laughter rings out and there is an atmosphere of excitement and joyful chaos. Children are perched on stilts, others spin plates or happily perform aerial dances.
This is not a big-top circus in a major city but a house in southeastern Turkey, where Syrian refugee children learn circus tricks in an innovative program to help them integrate into their foreign host country.
The Her Yerde Sanat association (Turkish for “Art Anywhere”) works with 120 young people aged 3 to 20.
Just north of the Syrian border, at the house in Mardin province, there is a beautiful view over the Mesopotamian plain to Syria, which 80 of the youngsters once called home. The other children are Turkish.
On the ground floor, some 15 children alternate between aerial dancing from ribbons suspended from the ceiling, juggling and the trapeze, while younger ones in a second room play percussion instruments with an impressive intensity.
Upstairs, Turkish is being taught to Syrian children so they can integrate into school.
Some learn the circus arts everyday because they are unable to go to school; for others it is a weekend activity. Some become good enough to perform publicly in shows or regional festivals.
Fifteen-year-old Eyad Haj Mahmoud, originally from Aleppo in northern Syria, believes the classes are helpful.
“I learned things here that have allowed me to become a better person,” he said.
It is a chance for the children to temporarily forget their past — adult instructors, most of whom have a professional or amateur circus background, are told never to ask about their origins.
Surrounded by the sound of laughter and raucous activity, Pinar Demiral said the children “are just here Eyad Haj Mahmoud, teenager originally from Aleppo in northern Syria to create circus art”.
In the daylong workshops, trainers switch from one language to another, helped by their students who also do music and hip-hop classes.
The adults are mostly volunteers from outside of Turkey, who come for an average of three months; some speak Turkish and Arabic while all know English.
Syria’s conflict has killed more than 310,000 people, forced over five million people to flee the country and left much of it in ruins since it erupted six years ago.
Turkey is home to over 2.9 million Syrian refugees, according to figures released by the Turkish interior ministry last month.
Some 300,000 of those are in camps, while others live with the local population.
Activity coordinator Muhammed Kheir Kassim came to Turkey from Damascus four years ago and said he discovered the association through his son.
Having been a school headmaster in Syria, he soon got involved himself.
He described his privileged relationship with the children, saying he was like “a father” and “a friend” to them.
“We get angry, we reconcile, we fight but at the end of the day, we have the same heart and the same goal,” he said.
I learned things here that have allowed me to become a better person.”