How the light gets in: Reflections on Amala in Amman, Jordan
A blog by Lizzie Bray, Director of Education Programmes at Amala.
This blog was first published on Linkedin on 27 September 2025. You can follow Lizzie on Linkedin here.
“Ring the bells that still can ring; Forget your perfect offering; There is a crack, a crack in everything; That's how the light gets in” (Leonard Cohen)
After ten days of working with the Amala team and students in Amman, Jordan, I am convinced that they are ‘the light that gets in’. Every story, culture, country and journey bursts into Amala’s learning spaces where there is a shared sense of purpose to learn, to grow and to make a positive difference in the community - and beyond.
These are not just fancy words. They reflect my observations and interactions in the classroom, the kitchen, the garden and on the bus. Amala’s students and educators demonstrate what futurist and author Jane McGonigal refers to as ‘urgent optimism’. They recognise the risks and challenges ahead but remain realistically hopeful that they will meet those challenges and face those risks. They have agency over applying their talents, competencies and life experiences towards a better world. One student is designing an app to help women to be safe when walking at night. Another student is a voracious consumer of the news from Syria - as she considers how she might contribute to her country’s development - my vote would be for her to be a future President of Syria.
The challenges faced by refugees and conflict affected youth in order to access upper secondary education are not going away and have been exacerbated by global humanitarian funding cuts. Against that bleak backdrop, it is incredibly heartening to be a part of ensuring that quality and growth go hand in hand across all of Amala’s programmes. Only one year ago, there were 50 Global Secondary Diploma (GSD) students studying in Amman and today the number has doubled to 100. With appropriate funding in place, this number will jump by another 50 students next year.
None of this would happen without the talents of Amala’s educational leaders and educators. Their sense of ‘urgent optimism’ emerges as they design and implement contextually engaging learning for each class. This week I was thrilled to be able to listen in on an engaging debate about the pros and cons of globalisation; discuss the value of communication skills to foster ethical leadership and learn more about student research projects to further peacebuilding.There is simply nothing better than spending time in the company of Amala’s students.
In my message to the graduates of our sixth cohort I described them as bridge builders for peace, conflict resolution and ethical leadership. Their toolkits include empathy, dialogue and understanding. They don’t just see the world through their own eyes but through the eyes of their classmates. Imagine what that could look like at scale - that’s how the light gets in.