Boulder family helps to educate Syrian kids
Refugee children learn music, computer programming
boulder» University of Colorado sophomore Xenia Mathys and her Boulder family craft a different sort of Friday night plan: lesson plans.
Xenia — and her piano instructor mother, Elena, and CU computer engineering professor father, Peter — teach music and computer programming classes to 8- to 12-year-old Syrian children living in a refugee camp near the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon.
The melodious chirps of a Skype call ring throughout a downtown Boulder office promptly at 11 p.m., and Xenia’s class of two girls and three boys pops onto the screen. Xenia greets the children by name, and translator Eyad Al-Khalidy, who is sitting with the kids in their 8 a.m. lesson, relays what everyone will be learning about today — an opera titled “The Magic Flute.”
Xenia, 20, uses Skype from the Boulder headquarters of the refugee advocacy organization Humanwire, while Elena offers teaching tips and Peter works on his lesson. Xenia heads home after her lesson is done around midnight. Elena takes over with a new class, sometimes teaching until 4 a.m. “I don’t consider it humanitarian work,” Elena said. “It’s practically immoral for us not to do something about the refugee crisis. We live very comfortably. This is something we can do.”
With the help of YouTube and Al-Khalidy, Xenia splits the opera into sections the children listen to and then discuss. While the notes crescendo around the mostly barren, white office, the little boys on the screen rise from their seats, shut their eyes and let their hands dance through the air, mimicking a conductor.
After watching a performance, Xenia and Elena will review and eventually test the children on what they know.
“I don’t expect them to remember everything,” Xenia said. “More the idea is to get them to make their own opinions and show them there’s something beyond what they’re living in. Show them there is something beyond terrorist groups and killing.”
The family hears blips of heartbreak they piece together to form the stories of their students’ lives.
One girl mentions the death of her brother when she hears a particular song. Another says she is familiar with the “Romeo and Juliet” piece they’re watching; she had the book before their tent burned down.
“We have come to the conclusion that teaching is very important,” Peter said. “They can express themselves, and it gives them something to do. They know something better is out there.”