Photo taken on Oct. 29, 2009 shows Sahar Karmo reading a book in a library.Every afternoon, the 12-year-old Sahar Karmo goes to the Youth and Children Center in Beirut's Shatila Palestinian Refugee Camp for free education. The Center is not a formal school but a training institution for those children who perform poorly in schools. Before dropping out of school, Sahar attended a private school outside the camp. When the younger sisters are in the school age, the family with a monthly income less than 1,000 U.S. dollars cannot afford almost 500 dollars of every child's yearly school fee. As the eldest one, Sahar was asked by her mother to stay at home and do house work. A child of a Lebanese father and Palestinian mother, Sahar cannot attend free-of-charge schools run by the UN Refugees Works Agency (UNRWA). What is worse, her father has no identification cards, preventing her from entering Lebanese public schools that cost nothing. She likes becoming teacher in the future, giving more poor children access to education. Even now in the center, she often helps the younger children to study. But now, she has to stay at home, watching her fellows going out every morning with school bags on their back. "I cannot go to school now, so I cannot become a teacher when I grow up. I don't know what I can do in the future," Sahar said. She has pleaded in vain with her mother for her to return to school for several times. "I envy those children who can travel around and see different things. But I have no ID cards, so I cannot get passport, let alone travelling," said Sahar.(Xinhua/Pan Liwen)
Article Source:xinhuanet.com
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