My name is Gofran Bozan. I am 16 years old, and I am from Homs, Syria. 

We left Syria in 2014, but we didn’t face much trouble in coming to Turkey because we had passports with us, although the journey here was a bit scary because we had to go to Idlib before coming to Reyhanli. The best thing about Syria was our house. 

When I left, I was young. I was only eleven years old, and I was upset, of course. We had lost my brother and father, so it was really hard to leave my home and come here with my mother and other brother. Now, though, I like living in Reyhanli because living here is like living in Syria. You don’t feel as though you’ve gotten so far from the place you used to live. And everyone here is Syrian, so you can talk with anyone. 

When Karam House first opened, I heard about it online and wanted to attend, so I registered my name and came to a workshop. I loved it but had to leave. I was under a lot of stress because I was enrolled in a Turkish school, so I left everything and began to focus on learning the Turkish language. After nine months or so, my brother began working here and registered my name, so I began taking workshops again. 

I like coming to Karam House because you feel as though it’s a different institution when compared to others. It develops our skills, and there are so many people that I love to come and see every week. I always say that I wish school was more like Karam House because I always feel motivated to keep coming to Karam House. The teaching is done in a different way that equips us with practical, useful skills that are ultimately beneficial, and the relationships between students and mentors are much better than they are with teachers at school. Here, you feel more comfortable around the mentors, and they prioritize your comprehension more. 

The best project I created was a mini robot that mimicked a vacuum. The goal of the robot was to save time and help the elderly with cleaning. This robotics workshop, in addition to the photography workshop, has benefitted me the most. Robotics taught me how to program and the photography workshop taught me to focus more on details in pictures. 

One of my favorite stories at Karam House involves the sixth project I worked on. I made a movie about losing one’s father, drawing on my own experience of losing my own father in Syria. It was about a three minute film and took place in the present, but I am remembering my childhood with my father. I recall all that he used to tell me and hope that he can see how I am now accomplishing my dreams. I had a little girl act as me and my older brother acted as my father. A lot of people attended, watched the film, and really liked it. I remember one person started yelling bravo because he was so happy with the film while others started crying because they were so moved. That moment really, really impacted me because I felt like people were happy with something that I made. 

I would explain Karam House as a place to develop one’s skills. You feel as though it really is your house and that you can be comfortable here. You will accept people regardless of who they are and accept the thoughts of the person in front of you. Overall, you will learn a lot of new things. Even though I am shy, I always share my opinions with other people because I understand that my opinion can create an impact and that if I say something it may happen. 

My hope for Syria is that it finds peace. I would love to return one day to visit my family one day because all of them are in Syria and because I am nostalgic. Ultimately, I hope that Syrians can return to the country and build it anew.