Case studies: former SOS child Qodsaya (Damascus) Syria

After years of hard work and trouble, Ibrahim has finally realised his dream. The scholarship to study abroad in the USA is now a reality.

The Chance of a Lifetime

After all the blood, sweat and tears, and the shut doors and rejections, it was finally a reality. When Ibrahim, a former SOS child from Syria, got the news that he received a long awaited SOS International Scholarship to get a Master's degree at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (USA), he simply couldn't believe it. He had applied to many universities, but none of the offers he had received before had met his needs.

The young man's break came during the visit of the SOS Children's President to Syria in May 2006. After meeting Ibrahim, the president realised the hard-working young man deserved the scholarship, and immediately awarded it to him. "At the end of my meeting, he took me between his arms and wished me good luck in my M.A. as if he were the father I had always missed," Ibrahim remembers.

Born in 1977, Ibrahim first came to SOS Children's Village Qodsaya - located close to Syria's capital Damascus - in 1984. His parents had passed away in 1980, leaving behind Ibrahim and his six siblings - three brothers and three sisters.

He started demonstrating his outstanding abilities very early on in his life at the SOS Children's Village. As a child in school, he was always singled out to participate in general knowledge and English language competitions. A model student, Ibrahim usually came at the top of his class and excelled in every aspect of his schoolwork.

He managed to achieve this outstanding performance without making too much of an effort - life was almost too easy. "I did not feel the need to study hard and prove myself until I lived independently," Ibrahim says. Yet his SOS mother taught him and his siblings that "we have to bear in mind that there are many, many other children who have conditions similar to ours, or even more difficult ones. And we should always remember the SOS Children's president's words, 'We can not help you unless you help yourselves.' "

Determination for the future

It was a difficult experience to leave the SOS Children's Village. "I had no friends at that time except some of my cousins; it is really hard for you to leave friends and siblings all of a sudden," Ibrahim remembers. Initially, he felt left to his own devices. Although he realised his SOS family and the village community were still there for him to provide advice and support, there were times when he had to rely completely on himself.

His strongest driving force towards adjusting to the new situation was, however, his determination to succeed in life. "I could not get everything I wanted and this is what pushed me forward and not backward because in most cases it is the need that drives and pushes people for the best work," Ibrahim says.

His determination paid off. Ibrahim entered the University of Damascus, English Department in 1997. Four years later, he graduated as one of the top ten students in his class. Already during his university years, he reached financial independence through working at al-Anwar Establishment for University Services, a leading centre in university services where he translated university lectures and some literary works from English into Arabic and the other way round.

As he realised he has a passion for teaching, he started working as an English teacher after graduation. With his usual penchant for excellence, he rapidly proved his skills as a teacher. Three years ago he came first in a Ministry of Education contest for selecting high school teachers. He is now one of Syria's most distinguished high school teachers.

Yet despite this success, Ibrahim still has a dream to realise. Beyond the M.A. in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), Ibrahim hopes to go on to get a PhD and eventually become a university professor. Although he does not expect this to be an easy street, he is confident that he will overcome the challenges. "When moving to the USA I will encounter some difficulties since I will not be familiar with places, people, habits and the like. However, all this will be temporary and I can get over it in no time," he says.

These days Ibrahim is applying for his visa to the United States and getting ready to move there. There's just one thing that's making his joy incomplete: "Unfortunately both my biological mother and my SOS mother are dead. If they were alive now, they would be very happy for me."

SOS Children has been working in Syria since 1981 and two children's village at Qodsaya, near Damascus and at Aleppo, in the north, give over 140 children a family for life. The children's village at Qodsaya also supports teenagers growing up as they become independent as well as running a programme to support children and families in the local community

You can give a child a future by sponsoring a child from Syria.