CONWAY -- Like many American children, these youngsters ride a bus to and from school. The children are preschoolers, so sometimes their backpacks are almost as big as they are.
Unlike children in this country, though, these youngsters' bus is white and unmarked, their school is underground somewhere in Syria, and there may not be any parents waiting for them at home.
Many of the 135 children who attended The Wisdom House preschool in Syria's Idlib province last school term have lost one or both parents to the country's civil war. Other children attending the school came from families displaced or otherwise severely affected by the war that has left thousands of orphans and millions of refugees.
But all of the children ages 4-6 have found education, emotional support and even a chance to play at The Wisdom House, a school supported primarily by central Arkansas residents, businesses, churches and colleges, first in Conway and now also in the Little Rock area.
The school, established by the nonprofit Syrian Emergency Task Force, opened in August. By the next month, the fundraising efforts in central Arkansas began after Jerry Adams, a retired Acxiom Corp. executive who now heads the Conway-based Arkansas Research Alliance, heard a presentation by task force leader Mouaz Moustafa.
Adams said he was struck by how hard these children's lives are.
"I get up in the morning, have breakfast. I'm safe," he said. "I couldn't imagine their world."
Ranya is one of those children. Syrian President Bashar Assad's mercenaries fatally shot both of Ranya's parents. "She used to not speak to the other children, but she has made more friends now," says a small task-force card with a picture of the little girl with dark hair and big eyes.
Because Syria is so dangerous, even monetary donations for the school and letters from Americans to the children must be smuggled into the country through its border with Turkey.
Moustafa, a former Hot Springs resident who immigrated to the United States from Syria with his parents when he was a child, is the task force's executive director. The advocacy group works for Syrian democracy and to empower that country's people "from the bottom up" since it can't work from the top down in a government led by a dictator, Moustafa said during a speech in Conway last week.
Natalie Larrison, the task force's director of outreach, works out of Little Rock. She has been to the Turkish border but never inside Syria because it is so dangerous. She works with people in this country to help the task force do its work inside Syria. Those efforts include The Wisdom House project, which had $50,000 as of last week, Adams said.
The money has helped with such needs as the bus, an electric generator, computers, other school supplies and pay for the five teachers and four staff members.
The school is in a town south of the devastated Aleppo and north of Hama. Project participants do not disclose the town's name for security reasons. A month before the task force moved the preschool to an underground location -- a cellar -- in December, the children could hear the explosions as a school in a nearby village was being bombed.
"At one point, we were the only school that had not been targeted and bombed in the area," Larrison said.
The school is in a rebel stronghold, which makes it more likely to be targeted by the Assad regime.
Jomah Alqasem, the task force's field director in Syria, explained to Larrison the origins of The Wisdom House's Arabic name, chosen by the preschool's teachers. "He said that there is a famous saying in our [Syrian] culture: The places which [supply] children with knowledge also [supply] wisdom," Larrison related in an email.
"She is Rama," says the caption for a Wisdom House project website picture of a 5-year-old girl wearing a red shirt saying I love you, with a heart for the word love. "Her dad is fighting against Al Assad army. She is always praying for her father and for Syria to become a free country." Then, there's this: "(Note: Rama's father died in Aleppo in December 2016.)"
Adams said The Wisdom House project's next effort might be to help provide uniforms for the preschoolers. He and Larrison hope that effort in turn can lead to jobs and other opportunities for Syrian women.
The task force already has established local councils in liberated areas by choosing and training residents because, as Adams noted, "local governments have basically vaporized" during the civil war.
A woman on one such council suggested setting up a center to help war widows learn a trade such as sewing or cosmetology. Women trained as seamstresses could make the children's uniforms but will need sewing machines, fabric and a place to work. The Wisdom House project could help fund those efforts, Adams said.
Larrison and Adams said Conway residents were the first to support the preschool. Moustafa returns to central Arkansas often and, with Larrison and others, has helped spread the word of the Syrian needs.
Supporters include individuals such as Adams, who heads a steering committee that also includes Shelley Mehl, the Rev. Teri Daily, Brett Hardison, Nancy Allen, Larrison and Keith Jones. Some central Arkansas colleges, schools and churches also have joined the effort.
Though Syria has orphanages, Larrison said, orphans at The Wisdom House tend to live with foster families or relatives who care for them.
The Wisdom House project also encourages people to participate in its "Letters of Hope" campaign and to write brief letters to the children or other Syrians living through the war.
Those letters can say almost anything, The Wisdom House project's website says. "A letter, a poem, a song, a thought. As long as it is positive," the website says.
At the event in Conway last week, for instance, people used multicolored magic markers to write the children letters on brightly colored construction paper. "Dear boys and girls," some letters began.
Letters as well as monetary donations can be mailed to Larrison, whose office is in Little Rock. Donations also can be made online. Details and other information are available at thewisdomhouseproject.com.
Preschooler Badrieya lives with her mother and two sisters. "They are waiting for a call from their father. He is in prison; the Al Assad army had taken him and they don't know any thing about him," the website says.
And there's Maram, "a clever child" who loves to study Arabic. "She lives with her mother and her brother in a room," the website says. "They even don't have a kitchen. They live a very difficult life after they had lost their father and their house."
State Desk on 06/25/2017