In Focus: Manar Marouf
Manar Marouf is family education coordinator with the International Rescue Committee (IRC)’s resettlement office in New York City, where she and her colleagues provide resettlement services, including education, to newly-arrived refugees and immigrants across New York.
A native of Syria, Marouf came to the United States in 2013 after receiving a scholarship to pursue a Master’s in Sustainable International Development and Conflict Resolution at Brandeis University. Since graduating she has worked with the IRC in the field of refugee education. We spoke to her about her path to this work, her experience bringing classroom-learning into the field, and what gives her hope.
“I don’t assume anything about my clients. I don’t assume what they need. I ask them what they want and I try to provide services according to their particular needs.”
What led you to work in the field of refugee education?
I came to the US to study because I really wanted to understand what led to the conflict in my country [Syria], how the conflict is impacting all aspects of our lives, and what other countries have done to deal with conflict and its aftermath. When I graduated, I saw that the International Rescue Committee was looking for interpreters in New York and I knew they were resettling many Syrians at the time. So I emailed them and they asked me if I wanted to be an intern. So I interned in the resettlement program and then I worked with headquarters on a project about education and I really loved it.
Can you talk about your experience of taking classroom-based learning into the field?
One of the things that helped me understand education in armed conflict around the world and cultural differences was the different case studies that we studied in Sarah [Dryden-Peterson]’s class that I got to take at Harvard [Graduate School of Education] when I was at Brandeis. Every case study was different. You have refugees in refugee camps, in urban settings, and you have all these case studies that basically show you that there’s not one solution for all the different problems. The response shouldn’t be the same, the tools shouldn’t be the same, and we need to contextualize our response and our programs. That’s what I do with my work now, even with individual clients. I don’t assume anything about my clients. I don’t assume what they need. I ask them what they want and I try to provide services according to their particular needs.
Have there been any instances where something you initially learned in the classroom was challenged or made more complicated through your work?
Definitely, because at the end of the day you have deadlines and donor requirements. Working in the nonprofit sector brings with it challenges in resources, human or otherwise. So sometimes you have a great idea but you don’t have the means to implement that idea.
I’m doing an impact evaluation for our college and career readiness program at the moment. It’s not finalized yet, but through my interviews with people I’m realizing that the refugee resettlement program is set up in such a limited way that requires refugees or immigrants who work with us to be self-sufficient in three months. This means that within three months they need to find a job, a house, forget about all the trauma that they went through, and start their life right away with limited resources. Which means that their educational goals will not become their main goal. Whereas if the resettlement program was different, or if education was less expensive, there maybe would be means for them to work on their education starting from when they arrive in the country.
In your current work with refugees in the United States and then also I imagine in your personal life, you come across people who have gone through and who are going through really difficult times. And as you mentioned, resources to support them are limited. What gives you hope?
The small victories. For example, recently I had a client who came to me and said she wanted to apply to City University of New York (CUNY), but there were only three weeks left until the deadline. And in my mind I was like, ‘There’s no way. She still has to apply, to work on her essay, to gather all her documents.’ But she was so determined that she applied before the deadline. It’s too early to know if she got in but I’m sure she’s going to get in. These stories make me feel that it’s worth it.