My name is Majd Alkoutaini. I’m 19 years old and I’ve now been in Reyhanli for seven years. I’m originally from Idlib, Syria, specifically the area of Khan Shaykhun. 

The journey from Syria to Reyhanli took us three days. The hardest part about leaving Syria was that I left my loved ones. 

One of my passions is Beatboxing. I’m rated one of the top ten best beatboxers from Syria, and I’ve been beatboxing for about six years. I first got the idea from YouTube. I developed my skills little by little, and with time, I got to know experienced people in the field. I once shared my beatboxing video on Facebook, and someone in the comments asked if I wanted to join a group called Syrian Beatbox Family. I joined and it’s been amazing. 

Generally speaking, the group is a community. I’ve been training with them for about two years now. What I learned is that the beatbox world is big. There are so many different sounds and effects, and everything requires a lot of training. Some sounds can even take three to four months to master.

I was actually one of the first Karam House students to join, and I’ve loved every studio I was a part of. Each studio is different from the one before. My favorite project that I worked on was a climbing game, like the climbing you typically do on a wall. We made a moving wall, and every time you climb, the wall moves up higher. It keeps turning, so basically we created a never-ending rock climbing wall! I worked on this project with a group of four people, and the idea came to us from a discussion. Everyone added their input and the result was this. On the one hand, it helps with exercise. On the other hand, it’s fun!  

Before Karam House, I used to stay after school to take part in different activities like Boy Scouts, but there’s a big difference between the things we would do after school and the things we’d do at Karam House. Here, it’s anything but basic. I actually feel like I’m thinking and being creative.

The best thing about Karam House, though, is the interactions with the mentors. The first thing the mentors do is support us. For example, if I want to work on a project, they encourage us. They help us with ideas and even with execution. They really want us to succeed in every way possible, and I feel like I’ve definitely developed relationships with them. Honestly, they’re more than mentors. They’re like my friends. 

I was young when I lived in Syria so I wasn’t always thinking about the future, but I started thinking about my future (in electronics and beatboxing) when I came to Reyhanli. Karam House has definitely helped me a lot in accomplishing my goals. Here we are able to make something from nothing. I began to think outside the box in terms of what is actually possible. The sky is definitely the limit.