Introducing Amala High School Diploma Student: Mohammad A.

Mohammad was taking his last exams when his education was interrupted. Without a high school diploma in hand, he and his family left Syria for Jordan. Once he arrived in Jordan in 2014, he was responsible for caring for his brother, and was therefore unable to resume his education. By the time he tried to enrol in school again, he was turned away because of his age. 

Despite the setbacks he has faced, Mohammad is driven and resourceful. Before undertaking the Amala High School Diploma (AHSD), he engaged with various online courses on Coursera and EdX. He was particularly interested in business and computer science. Mohammad not only has a thirst for learning, but he is also very keen on sharing his knowledge with others around him. Alongside the AHSDP, he volunteers at the Jesuit Refugee Service to help others develop their computer skills. In the past, he has also worked as a coordinator for the UNHCR and a youth representative for UNICEF. 

Mohammad continuously works to develop solutions to issues he recognises around him. In 2018, along with some friends, Mohammad designed an app to submit to the Space Apps challenge, an annual international hackathon hosted by NASA that encourages participants to build innovative solutions using NASA’s open data. The mobile app, Forest Fire, was developed to detect forest fires in their early stages. Their hard work led to their project being nominated for a global award. 

Mohammad is also a keen entrepreneur. His first startup, IQra’a, “provides a learning kit and mobile application that enables non-Arabic speakers to connect with native Arabic speakers using Arabic by learning the most used terms and phrases in daily life by interactive ways”. Once he got IQra’a up and running, many of his friends approached him for advice on how to launch a startup as they had struggled to access appropriate resources for Arabic speakers. This prompted Mohammad to set up Safartas Ryady, “a non profit startup aiming to support entrepreneurs”. In order to expand the organisation, he is currently searching for more funding and looking to put together a team to help him. Looking to the future, he hopes to bring together his passion for IT and entrepreneurship to build a business centred around using modern technology to make education more accessible.

So naturally, the AHSD module Mohammad has enjoyed the most so far has been Social Entrepreneurship. He believes that the interactive nature of the AHSD and the diversity among the learners sets it apart from other programmes he has participated in. Mohammad has also thoroughly engaged with the Ethical Leadership module; he understands the significance of what he is learning and has been continuously working to apply his knowledge to situations outside the classroom. 

The AHSD facilitation team and the rest of the Amala team are amazed at what Mohammad has been able to accomplish. We are confident that he will continue to grow and thrive over the coming months!

Join us by helping more refugee youth like Mohammad study and gain a high school diploma next year by giving to our holiday campaign here. Help change the course of a young refugee’s life.