Meet Adham!
Adham is not on LinkedIn, yet!, however I think he should be, as many of you would benefit from knowing of Adham and his story, which I hope you have 5 minutes to spare as I recount below.
When Adham's mother was pregnant, his parents found themselves having to choose between being bombarded by their brutal national army, or support the insurgent opposition forces in their hometown fighting for freedom, enforcing the same utilitarian ruling practices they were supposedly liberating people from.
Between a rock and hard place, Adham's parents left the house they had built, the fields they had plowed for generations, and all their possessions in search of physical safety. That most bottom layer of Maslow's pyramid that all of us coaches and facilitators and HR professionals know so well, yeah exactly that one!
Adham's parents found refuge in a city not too far from the border on the neighboring country, as thousands of their compatriots did. With a new language, racist host population, hostile government entities, and self-aggrandizing humanitarian agencies, they lowered their head and did whatever they could to get by and raise a family.
This is when Adham was born, Adham to his own parents, but merely a number with a laminated shiny card and a number to the outside world. From the moment he took his first breath, he had to wear the cloak of a refugee for the years to come, inheriting a nationality from a nation he knows nothing of, with no prospects to visit, a nation which he would eventually refer to himself as 'from' and grow up to love and feel pain for, without ever stepping foot into, or at the very least claim its identity card or passport.
Adham grew up in the refugee settlement, and identified himself as a refugee, never a citizen, nor child, a toddler, a student, nor a football player. This is what his parents, his neighbors, the humanitarian workers that visited him, and the teachers called him, so he rolled with that.
In school, he was bullied and cast away for being different, and to avoid confrontations with the host community at the risk of losing their source of income, Adham's parents eventually ejected him form school and sent him to a local classroom run by a non-profit where he was basically educated to meet the bare minimum requirements of literacy.
By the time Adham celebrated his 9th birthday, all he knew was life as a refugee, hoping year after year that the war in the country his parents tell him he is from, would cease.
Adham, the 9-year-old, was an expert on war and the hardships of refugee settlement.
Adham, the 9-year-old, was a testimony to the inadequacy of international organizations.
Adham, the 9-year-old, was a by-product of revolutionary ambitions gone south, of autocrat reformists' dilletante promises, of an eclectic band of nations failing to meet the only mandate expected of them.
Adham, by the time was 10 years old had to now deal with a global pandemic that forced him to drop out of school, lock himself indoors and avoid social interaction as he followed the news of neighbors getting sick and dying, and witnessed a significant portion of the humanitarian agencies he got to know, and their personnel, evacuate and rush to the next big crisis.
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By the time he was 11, Adham entered the labor market and picked up a trade with a carpenter, a "job" that he enjoyed and grew to love.
Two months ago, Adham celebrated his 12th birthday, and he is at the peak of his teenage years, where against all odds, he grown strong and healthy, is tech-savvy with a strong presence on social media, has picked up English, and is able to build a sturdy closet and bed with his hands a a few tools.
In January, he started attending coding school, which opened up an entire world of opportunities for him and is already dreaming of building his own app.
Today Adham is under the rubble of one of the collapsed buildings in Adana, Turkey, with rescue missions trying to save him, a privilege that many of his cousins and relatives in Northern Syria are deprived of, due to sanctions.
Can you imagine telling a devastated community that the world will watch you die and not send rescue missions because we don't like your government and your dictator?
Adham may be a fiction character, yet he could not be more true and alive. You know Adham, you have met Adham, you have at the very least heard of or read about Adham.
There are tens of thousands of Adhams and Nouras born to war, known nothing but war, received nothing but sub-par refugee services from their host countries and non-governmental agencies throughout their lives, who are today facing death and another round of unsettlement, hundreds of them forsaken under the debris because the world has an embargo on their country.
I wanted you to get to know Adham because I feel that his story needs to be on the feed of our LinkedIn; a virtual society full of opportunities, celebrations of employment, and the latest news of technological ground-breaking achievements, infinite number of carousels about ChatGPT, while we struggle to do anything for human beings like Adham.
I personally struggle to come to terms with my humanity and my role when it comes to Adham and his generation, and this is an attempt to raise awareness as much as it is an invitation for conversation.
For those of you who feel moved to contribute to the crisis, here are a two trusted organizations responding on the ground, and I invite you to comment below with others that you trust.
Molham Team Basmeh & Zeitooneh for Relief and Development