A Wedding in Za'atari

June 28, 2016.

I could see the clouds of dust before I could see people.

We rounded the corner and there stood a long line of men, gathered in a crescent-shaped dance line. They began to move in tandem, stomping and kicking, first with small steps and then bigger movements, dancing up a dust storm. A group of women sat to the side and watched the festivities, chatting and taking pictures and passing around juice to the guests. They were celebrating the wedding of Amjad, a volunteer in Questscope's youth center in Za'atari Refugee Camp.

Weddings look a bit different here in...MORE

A Report from Aleppo

June 28, 2016.

The once-beautiful city of Aleppo has been host to some of the most violent clashes in Syria, with fighting in and around the city intensifying over the past week. Food and water are scarce. Missiles are falling on neighborhoods still full of families and children. And shelters are becoming oppressively crowded as more people are forced to move in search of safety.   

Our team is there with them. Through our network of partner organizations, we have hundreds of staff and volunteers in Aleppo.

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Refugee Update from Curt in Europe

June 21, 2016.

The most overwhelming casualty for families, children, and young men and women forced to become refugees is to find themselves suddenly as survivors with everything familiar ripped away.   

Everything gone. Changed.  Total dependence on others for food, water, shelter, safety. No choices. No friends. The shock of the gut-wrenching loss of relationships is absolutely devastating. Visible effects - homelessness, friendlessness, hunger - are compounded by invisible effects - fear, helplessness, emotions - that tear at their very sense of feeling that...MORE

Making Change in Za'atari

May 27, 2016.

The Za'atari Refugee Camp is a place where people who have no choices have to live. Youth in particular have very little control over their lives. They don't know when they'll be able to return home and most decisions about how they will live in the camp are made by others.

They are people in search of a significant life and a way to contribute to the world, but there is so much they cannot change.

The Creativity Fund Committee was born out of the desire to find what they CAN change. Every month, youth bring their ideas to this...MORE

The Aqaba Project

May 5, 2016.

Reem and her six sisters live in Aqaba, a port city in the south of Jordan.

They have been out of school for nearly four years, ever since they fled their home in Syria. They live in a neighborhood where no young girl should walk around in the streets, so they spend most of their time cooped up inside.

For a while Reem and her family were able to get by, but the little money they had ran out. You can feel the tight pressure in the room when her dad talks about his daughters.

“Girls are especially vulnerable in this world and we’re not really...MORE

News from Syria

March 30, 2016.

For the first time in five years there may be a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel in Syria. A fragile peace agreement was struck a few weeks ago that increases our on-the-ground potential to deliver humanitarian aid to more communities.

We are one of a few organizations with presence and a network of trusted partnerships in Syria. We have expanded with 1,800 staff and volunteers continuing to serve where we were and move into new places.

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A Second Chance

February 25, 2016.

This month we celebrated the opening of 28 new alternative education centers across Jordan. This is the launch point to reach over 100,000 out-of-school Jordanian and Syrian youth in the years to come. 

The Syria Crisis has been raging on for five long years.  Many Syrian refugee youth have been out of school for that entire time. Jordanian youth who were vulnerable before the crisis have even less support now as the Jordanian school system struggles under the pressure of unexpected numbers. Jordan is a country of only six million into which nearly one...MORE

Give Kids a Voice

February 25, 2016.

Our friends at Solidarity Studios just held their second annual "Give Kids a Voice" Fundraiser. People from across the state of New Jersey came together to dance the night away while raising money for Questscope.

Solidarity Studios is a movement that connects youth around the world. They work with young people living through war and poverty to help them tell their own stories and mobilize their communities around the issues that affect them most. When the founder of Solidarity Studios was a student at Duke University...MORE

Sonic Relief Benefit Concert

January 28, 2016.

In collaboration with the Berklee College of Music in Boston, musicians Gabriela Martina (CH), Sophie Maricq (ESP/UK/BE) and Jussi Reijonen (FIN) curated and organized a benefit to gather donations and raise awareness to aid refugees of the war in Syria.

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A Major Milestone

January 28, 2016.

We just celebrated a major milestone at our Youth Center in the Za’atari Refugee Camp: the official opening of our new sports field. It’s a rare patch of green in an oppressively brown and dusty refugee camp. Hundreds of youth now have a safe place to play and run around with their friends. 

This achievement alone is a big reason for us to celebrate. But the completion of the sports field means something even more significant: the Youth Center is now fully operational. 

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