CONWAY — A group of like-minded people based in Conway wants to make a “people-to-people” connection with an orphanage and school halfway around the world in the civil war-torn country of Syria.
Leading the effort is Jerry Adams, the Rev. Teri Daily and Brett Hardison, all of Conway and all members of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. This group of volunteers is trying to make a difference in the lives of 358 children and seven staff members at the Wisdom House orphanage and school in the Idlib Province of Syria, which is in the northwestern part of the country near the Turkish border.
These community leaders will introduce The Wisdom House Project to the public in a presentation from 7:30-9 p.m. Tuesday in the Worsham Student Performance Hall in the Student Life and Technology Center at Hendrix College. Visitor parking can be found in front of the Student Life and Technology Center, which is across Harkrider Street from the Hendrix Wellness and Athletic Center.
The guest speaker will be Mouaz Moustafa, executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, which is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that, according to its website www.syriantaskforce.org, is “driven to support Syrians under the oppression and bombardment of their homeland.” SETF established the orphanage and school in Idlib earlier this year.
Moustafa spoke in March at the University of Central Arkansas and that is when some of the Conway volunteers first learned about the need at the orphanage. Moustafa was born in Damascus, Syria, and moved to the United States with his family when he was 10. He grew up in the Hot Springs area and is a graduate of Lakeside High School and UCA, where he received a bachelor’s degree in international studies and political science in 2008. He worked on the staffs of both former U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln and former U.S. Rep. Vic Snyder, both of Arkansas.
Students at both Hendrix and UCA will have an opportunity to learn about the Wisdom House Project on Wednesday. Programs will be presented from 9-11 a.m. Wednesday in the Worsham Student Performance Hall at Hendrix and from 1-3 p.m. in Ferguson Chapel at UCA. Moustafa will also speak at these events, which are open to the public.
Adams and Daily, who is the vicar at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, along with her husband, Dave Daily, who teaches religion at the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville, met with Moustafa following the UCA conference in March.
“He told us about this orphanage that really needed help in Syria,” Teri Daily said. “I had it on my heart one Sunday and shared it with the members of our church and asked anyone who wanted to help to meet me that afternoon. Several came, and that was the beginning of the Wisdom House Project here in Conway.”
Marianne Welch of Conway, another volunteer with the Wisdom House Project and a member of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, said many organizations are involved with this humanitarian effort including the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce, Hendrix, UCA, Acxiom Corp., the Conway mayor’s office, the Conway School District, Conway Regional Health System, Nabholz Corp., St. Peter’s Episcopal Church and First United Methodist Church.
“We’ve been meeting almost weekly all summer,” she said.
Kandace Keeney of Conway, professional development and special projects coordinator in the division of outreach and community engagement at UCA, is also a member of the Conway coalition seeking help for the orphanage in Syria.
“One of the things I am most excited about [working on] this project is the opportunity to take this ‘lost generation’ [refugee children in Syria] and through education and love develop a generation of global citizens,” she said. “That makes all the difference.”
Natalie Larrison of Little Rock, SETF director of outreach, said the nonprofit organization with the help of other sponsors first assisted the orphanage by sending school supplies, backpacks, mattresses and food. She said the group of volunteers from Conway has given a start-up donation of $5,000 to the orphanage, which she said is located in a “regime-held part of the country that is in danger of bombings and airstrikes.”
Larrison said that $5,000 would be used to purchase an electric generator and pay salaries for the five teachers for the next year. She said the staff of seven at the orphanage includes these five teachers plus one administrative assistant and one custodian.
Larrison said the annual cost of maintaining the orphanage is approximately $32,000.
Larrison, who also graduated from Lakeside High School and UCA and knew Moustafa during those years, said the English teacher at the Wisdom House is involved with the Conway project and sends photos and videos from the orphanage, which will be used in the future for social media applications.
Larrison is a former English, journalism and photography teacher who worked at North Pulaski High School in Jacksonville, and when that school closed earlier this year, she reached out to Mustafa for possible employment.
“What the people in Conway are doing is incredible,” Larrison said.
Adriane Allyn Smith of Little Rock, another volunteer with the Wisdom House Project and a friend of Larrison, said simply, “It’s all about love.”
Adams, who retired from Acxiom in 2007 after 34 years in senior leadership roles and is now president and CEO of his own company, Arkansas Research Alliance, will also meet with Mustafa and CEOs from several local companies on Wednesday night.
“We hope to make a five-year commitment” in support of the Wisdom House, Adams said. “We hope to raise $50,000 this week, which would pay all of the first year’s expenses plus part of the second year’s expenses.
“But [the Wisdom House Project] is about more than raising money,” Adams said. “It’s about setting up a
people-to-people connection with those children, with those teachers and staff. It’s about educating the community about the situation in Syria.
“[The civil war in Syria] is the closest [thing] to the Holocaust we have seen in our time,” Adams said. “There are 4 million refugees in Syria that are being bombed.”
Teri Daily cited these figures from the website syrian
refugees.eu: 4.8 million refugees have fled from Syria, and 6.6 million are internally displaced within Syria.
Adams said he and others on this volunteer committee have checked into the charity to verify its authenticity and ensure that funds are directed appropriately.
“We want to confirm where our donations are going,” he said. “It’s real; it’s valid.”
For more information on the Wisdom House Project, call St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, at (501) 329-8174 or visit www.thewisdomhouseproject.com.