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EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian crisis

When Beauty Runs More Skin Deep

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I love the training workshops. I believe they are a really useful channel to get us into employment, while working from home, and securing a better future for our kids by covering their education costs.

Leyla Al Falaani, 31, is a young ambitious woman from Deraa in Syria. She fled the war raging in her home country in 2013, after miraculously escaping a sniper attack. She now lives in Al Ramtha, Jordan, with her family.

Leyla vividly recalls the untenable ordeal she and her family had to endure before seeking refuge in nearby Jordan: “Displacement, homelessness... it was quite horrendous. Every day, we would spend it in a different house, a different neighbourhood, a different area. We were always moving... it was unbearable.”

Her face lights up when she speaks of the beauty training workshops she recently joined, through the Trust Fund supported LEADERS projects.

The training sessions changed her life considerably, economically speaking, but also proved instrumental in breaking her initial social isolation.

She says: “Honestly, I feel I got a lot out of it. Not only have I been able to make a change in my financial situation, but we have become close with the other girls, even outside of the training sessions. We now visit one another regularly.”

Leyla is thrilled to elaborate on how she learnt to perform well, always seeking novelty and a better understanding of the beauty industry demands. In the not-so-distant future, she hopes that she and her classmates can become a more meaningful and integrated part of Jordanian society.

Leyla concludes: “It feels like a second home… I can hardly wait for the day of the training to start and get together with other girls. We enjoy ourselves so much when we reunite and it’s the best feeling ever!”