In Pictures

Gallery|Humanitarian Crises

Young refugees in Turkey learn circus skills

Learning to juggle, walk on stilts and ride unicycles, young Syrians in Southeast Turkey cope with the trauma of the war

Circus skills/ Please Do Not Use
Four boys juggle clubs in a circle, putting their teamwork and eye-to-hand coordination skills to work. Dozens of refugee children living near Mardin have benefited from the programme over the past five years. [Didem Tali/Al Jazeera]
By Didem Tali
Published On 9 Dec 2016

Mardin,Turkey – Mardin, a stunning ancient city on Turkey’s border with Syria, has seen a massive influx of refugees since the war broke out in 2011. It is possible to see Syria from the rooftops of Mardin, which is about 100km from the border – a distance many refugees who fled to Mardin simply walked.

Research shows that children and young people are over-represented in refugee communities and the Syrians in Turkey are no exception. Among more than 2.7 million registered Syrian refugees in Turkey, fertility rates tend be high.

According to Human Rights Watch, there are more than 700,000 school-age Syrian children in Turkey – 400,000 of whom miss school. One of the main obstacles facing these children is the linguistic barrier – as Turkish schools don’t have a curriculum in Arabic. While the Turkish government has been generous in its response to the refugee crisis, thousands of refugee children still have educational gaps – in a country that still qualifies as a developing economy.

But Art Anywhere Association, a Mardin-based organisation, has a different approach to minimising the language barrier and keeping children stimulated – a circus school.

Children can learn to juggle, walk on stilts, balance objects on their noses and spin hula-hoop without without the need of language skills.

Paradoxically, through such activities they socialise, learn languages faster and boost their self-confidence through public performances, which can aid their educational lives.

Circus skills/ Please Do Not Use
Training in the school is run by international volunteers with the appropriate circus skills. However, the organisation's directors hope that talented pupils such as Khaled will take over the training role in future. [Didem Tali/Al Jazeera]
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Circus skills/ Please Do Not Use
One of the international volunteers shows some acrobat skills to a circus school pupil in the Mardin-style stone house. [Didem Tali/Al Jazeera]
Circus skills/ Please Do Not Use
Circus school pupils learn to walk on stilts in the practice area of the Art Anywhere Foundation. [Didem Tali/Al Jazeera]
Circus skills/ Please Do Not Use
Ifat, 17, has recently taken interest in making rap songs. 'I want to sing rap and write songs about the issues in Syria and my own experiences – how we came here to escape the war and how the children are still dying there. I think rap is a great way to make people listen to these things,' he says. [Didem Tali/Al Jazeera]
Circus skills/ Please Do Not Use
Two pupils practise their unicycle skills. Khaled,16, right, has been attending the circus classes for two years now.When the war displaced his family from Syria to Turkey, he missed two years of schooling. But now he is happy to continue his education in Turkey and even happier about the new tricks he has learned at the circus school.'When I first started here, I was a bit shy,' he says. 'But through a lot of practice, I can now juggle, ride a unicycle and even walk on stilts. It's been a lot of fun.' [Didem Tali/Al Jazeera]
Circus skills/ Please Do Not Use
Mardin, a stunning ancient city on Turkey's border with Syria, has seen a huge influx of refugees since the war broke out in 2011. [Didem Tali/Al Jazeera]
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Circus skills/ Please Do Not Use
Three Syrian boys practise break-dancing skills. Ahmad, 16, is standing on his hands. 'Girls love these break-dance tricks,' he says with a shy smile. [Didem Tali/Al Jazeera]
Circus skills/ Please Do Not Use
It is possible to see Syria, 100km away, from the rooftops of Mardin. [Didem Tali/Al Jazeera]
Circus skills/ Please Do Not Use
Chechan, left, and Lava Kasim, 20, are among the advanced students, who will be training fellow refugees in the future. Although they are both from Haseke, Syria, they met at the school. 'I didn't know anyone in Mardin before starting here,' says Kasim, who has suffered social isolation in Turkey. Through the circus school, she has made new friends. 'I am happy to be in Turkey, because we are safe. But it's not easy living here.' [Didem Tali/Al Jazeera]
Circus skills/ Please Do Not Use
Kasim, left, tries to walk on a rope while Barho watches on the circus school roof. Kasim loves working with children and dreams of being an English teacher. However, the bureaucratic difficulties facing a Syrian wanting to go to a Turkish university mean she is not sure she can achieve her dream. Kasim feels that circus school might give her another direction. "If I cannot become an English teacher, I want to be a circus teacher,' she says. [Didem Tali/Al Jazeera]