Maria, Rivana and Hamza, after-school students from Damascus, were the protagonists of an experience that tells in a simple but direct way what it means to live reciprocity.
Hamza, a ninth grade student, was having trouble understanding some passages and mathematical formulas, so Zeina, the director of the after-school program “ Casa dei bambini ” in Damascus, thought of having two of her classmates help him, instead of his teachers. As soon as the idea was launched, Maria and Rivana, two students who were very good at mathematics, offered to help him and meet with Hamza for a week, outside of their regular class schedule. Watching them work together, you could feel the seriousness with which all three of them approached the task, until Hamza was able to understand the passages he was missing and continue the course with everyone else. Zeina’s idea made the kids experience firsthand what “ reciprocity ” means: not only receiving help and support, but being able to give it back to others, dedicating time, attention and care. The experience of the three boys also brings with it other important values: Hamza learned to ask for help and had the humility to receive it from two girls, something that is still not taken for granted in their society and in many others. Furthermore, Maria and Rivana are Christians and Hamza is Muslim, but this did not prevent them from collaborating , asking for help and giving a hand to a friend in difficulty. In a scenario like that of Syria, where every day the consequences of war and international sanctions hit hard the lives of those who remain, the experiences in the projects supported by AMU, ignite and nourish the hope of a peace and reconstruction dictated by “new” rules and of which everyone can be protagonists.
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