"This place helps us,” Sa’adia explains. “They don't treat us like we're different people." Sa’adia, 19, lives in an impoverished area on the outskirts of Amman, Jordan, where many Syrian refugee families have found shelter after fleeing the war at home.

Resources are scarce and people are struggling to get by, but Sa’adia is now able to attend a mobile learning facility for the host community and the Syrian refugee children, many of whom have been out of school for months if not years.

This mobile learning facility is provided with the support of UNICEF through the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis. As well as providing educational support, the facility has been playing a vital role in improving relations between refugees and the host community.

"There are a lot of Syrians in the neighbourhood and we have made friends," Sa’adia says. The closest of these is Rawan, who has struggled with the loss of her home and loved ones in Syria, and Sa’adia has written a poem in honour of their friendship. “My friend, I would like to write you a speech to prove my friendship,” the poem reads. “So I took the pen from my bone, the ink from my blood and the white pages of paper from my heart.”

"When I feel sad, she understands and I understand her," Sa’adia adds. “So we talk to each other about our problems."  The help works both ways. When Sa’adia got engaged some months ago, she was supported not only by the facilitators at the learning centre, but also by Rawan. "We spoke about it and then I decided to break off the engagement," Sa’adia says, adding that she wants to continue to study and become a doctor instead.

Through UNICEF, the EU Trust Fund provides access to quality education, protection and psycho-social care for Syrian refugee and host community children and youth in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.