Empowering Syrian Refugee Girls: How Squash is Transforming Their Lives for the Better

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South of the Syrian border, in a gritty neighbourhood in Jordan, colourful murals show stories of struggle across ageing apartment blocks where refugees are seeking a better life.

While poverty, limited work and the fight to keep children in school are daily realities in this community, a sporting club called Squash Dreamers is providing a sanctuary for young girls.

“Through Squash Dreamers I found my fighting spirit,” Fatima Al-Aboud told SBS News. Al-Aboud fled the Syrian civil war with her family at the age of four and joined the program six years ago.

Squash Dreamers combines squash training for national and international tournaments with intensive academic and language support.

After excelling both on the court and in the classroom, Al-Aboud has made history by becoming the first Syrian girl to receive a scholarship to Westminster School in the United States.

“I am so happy, nervous, excited, everything. When my teacher found out, she started to cry. My mum started to cry. They all cried. And then we called my dad because he’s in Syria and he was very, very happy,” she said.

Without the scholarship, Al-Aboud stated that she would have had no choice but to return to Syria, where she would have completely lost the opportunity for education.

Two young girls sit on the ground wearing hijabs and writing in notebook

Fatima Al-Aboud has made a groundbreaking achievement by becoming the first Syrian girl to earn a scholarship to Westminster School in Connecticut.

Now, she is determinedly pursuing her ambition to become a psychologist, a goal she sees as a fight on behalf of all girls who share her circumstances.

“What is so wonderful about this place is that the girls we have are staying in school until they’re 18. They’re not getting married. They’re not dropping out. These girls are happy,” said Squash Dreamers executive director Daisy Van Leeuwen-Hill.

“I would really put a lot of our success down to the fact that we really try so hard to listen to the community. We started slowly adding academics, fitness, wellbeing support, mental health and we even started providing meals at every single session because some kids were fainting from hunger,” she said.

“Watching these young girls grow from people who believe their world is so small and then watching them bloom like beautiful flowers, it’s amazing. And the biggest success we’ve had at Squash Dreamers is the fact that this incredibly warm community has been formed,” she said.

Although educational opportunities are available in Jordan, many refugee families encounter significant challenges in re-enrolling their children in school. UNICEF reports that over 40% of Syrian refugee children between the ages of 12 and 15 in Jordan drop out of school, an issue that Squash Dreamers is actively addressing.

A blonde woman embraces a young girl as other girls watch on

This supportive community reaches beyond just the girls themselves.

Syrian refugee Shadia Ammar works at Squash Dreamers, cooking for the 90 girls who are currently part of the program. She said she isn’t just an employee but rather a vital support network.

“I feel like I’m their mum and they definitely feel like I’m their mum. I always feel like they are my daughters,” she said.

“The Syrian people are strong. We were still here despite the war and the troubles. We have skills and we have not become weaker; we have become stronger,” she said.

Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad, more than 50,000 Syrian refugees have already voluntarily returned to Syria from Jordan and more are considering the same journey.

For people like Ammar, Squash Dreamers is more than a program.

What is being learned in Jordan, she believes, will eventually travel back across the border, helping to shape the future of an entire country.

“When we return to Syria, everyone here will take something from this country, will take the customs and traditions and the sweet things from this country and surely Syria will be much, much better,” she said.