难民等待安置的同时提高英语能力

Refugees Improve English Skills While Waiting for Resettlement 难民等待安置的同时提高英语能力

For many refugees around the world, boredom¹ is a fact of life.

While the United Nations High Commission on Refugees – or UNHCR – works on resettling them, they wait. And wait. And wait. They cannot work, enroll² in a school or travel.

In 2014, several Hazara refugees in Indonesia found a way to spend their time. They created an informal school for children: the Refugee Learning Center, or RLC.

Asad Shadan is one of the founders³ of the RLC. He left Afghanistan after the Taliban threatened his family.

Shadan says that starting the school was a difficult process: "We asked the UNHCR to help us with some kind of educational program for three months, but after getting no response, we decided⁴ to just go for it and started a class on our own with 18 kids."

The school's website describes how the local and international community came together to help it grow.

An Australian couple paid the rent for the school. Parents gave $2.50 each to pay for carpet, whiteboards and other teaching materials. Women in the community volunteered to teach.

The program, originally an informal class, has grown into a six-room school with classes for adults and children.

The program, Shadan explains, grew quickly. "Within six months we had 100 children enrolled⁵, and now we have 200 students and 16 teachers. It gives all of us something to do."

Thanks to donations over the past couple of years, RLC now has a library, English classes and an indoor football league.

Politics

For years, Indonesia has hosted refugees. It is part of a transit⁶ route for refugees and migrants going to Australia.

But, Shadan says, “the Indonesian government pretends that we don't exist.”

Indonesia has never signed the UN Refugee Convention, and it offers no formal rights to asylum⁷ seekers and refugees.

In addition, the Australian government's 2013 decision to cut the number of refugees it admits – in addition to turning away ships carrying migrants – has created a backlog⁸ of refugees in Indonesia.

The UNHCR reports currently almost 14,000 refugees and asylum-seekers live in Indonesia. Around half of these come from Afghanistan.

Building skills for the future

While waiting for resettlement, the students at RLC are trying to build skills.

They like to think about the future. "What we want to avoid is that, once resettled, we don't have any skills, or that kids have been wasting their formative years of their education," says Shadan.

Although English is not the native language of the refugees, many speak English very well. "We have a lot of time to practice," jokes Shadan.

Some of the refugees are being resettled, but very slowly.

Masoma Faqihi, a 20-year-old, said her family of six have finally received approval to go to the U.S., after more than three years in Indonesia.

"I like teaching at the school here but I'm just about done with school for myself, I think," she said. "I heard you can do anything in America, though, so really, I want to be a makeup⁹ artist. Wish me luck."

Words in This Story

boredom – n. the state of being tired and annoyed

resettle – v. to begin to live in a new area after leaving an old one

donation – n. something (such as money, food, clothes, etc.) that you give in order to help a person or organization

migrant – n. a person who goes from one place to another especially to find work

backlog – n. a large number of jobs that are waiting to be finished

1 boredom   

n.厌烦，厌倦，乏味，无聊

参考例句：

• Unemployment can drive you mad with boredom.失业会让你无聊得发疯。
• A walkman can relieve the boredom of running.跑步时带着随身听就不那么乏味了。

2 enroll   

v.招收；登记；入学；参军；成为会员（英)enrol

参考例句：

• I should like to enroll all my children in the swimming class.我愿意让我的孩子们都参加游泳班。
• They enroll him as a member of the club.他们吸收他为俱乐部会员。

3 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

7 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

8 backlog   

n.积压未办之事

参考例句：

• It will take a month to clear the backlog of work.要花一个月的时间才能清理完积压的工作。
• Investment is needed to reduce the backlog of repairs.需要投资来減轻积压的维修工作。

9 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？