Mohammed has an easy smile while his brother Nezmi is more serious. These two brothers come from war torn country in the Middle East, and have four other siblings. Their father brought their family on a journey to a refugee community in a nearby country about three years ago. Mohammed describes how they came to the border and saw soldiers patrolling. They hid for a while and once the soldiers moved on, they crossed the border. Unfortunately, Mohammed’s father had to go back because of his job. His employers have threatened to erase his pension if he doesn’t continue in his job and so he had to go back. The burden of supporting the family has fallen on the shoulders of Mohammed and Nezmi.

They started working in a factory making t-shirts. They are a tailor’s assistants and help by sewing, fetching, and doing anything the tailor might need. School ends at 1pm, and they are off to work in the factory by 2pm. In spite of working many long hours and the pressure of supporting the family, they are happy because they have the opportunity to go to school. Mohammed says that he loves learning and that Arabic and math are his favorite subjects. He dreams of going to Germany, but Nezmi dreams of being a teacher and helping other children like him learn in spite of terrible challenges.

Through ESO, Tenth will be supporting the work of World Relief in partnering with a refugee school in order to provide standard education in a Christian environment for refugee children from preschool to 15 years of age. World Relief views this as a critical opportunity to not only meet practical needs, but also to build relationships with the families of students, as well as with the community and the local/national government, in order to communicate the love of Christ.

Pray for Mohammed  and Nezmi, their family, and school. Pray that the ongoing work of World Relief in this community would show God’s love. Pray for how you can participate in this ministry through ESO.