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September 6, 2025 · Peter Bernscherer · Share on Facebook · Share on Twitter

Ute Bock Prize for Shaher Alyousef – A teacher who gives hope

A refugee who becomes a support for thousands – Shaher Alyousef receives the Bock Prize for volunteer refugees

Shaher Alyousef knows what it means to lose everything – and yet not give up. He came to Austria as a refugee from Syria in 2015. Today, ten years after founding a school in a Syrian refugee camp, he is being awarded the Ute Bock Prize for his extraordinary commitment.

Alyousef fled the war and spent three years with his family in a refugee camp in Atama on the Turkish-Syrian border – where he built a school for children who would otherwise have had no access to education. "We set up a few tents and just started," he says of his first steps. Today, around 1.200 children attend the school, plus a kindergarten for hundreds more. The school still exists today – with modest means but with a big heart.

Since his arrival in Austria, Alyousef has continued tirelessly: just three months after his arrival, he found an apartment and a job, brought his family over, completed training as a Montessori teacher and has since been involved in numerous voluntary initiatives – including “Gablitz helps” and "PCs für alleToday, he trains teachers in Syria via video calls, thus keeping the educational project alive even from a distance.

"There are so many children who can't read and write. We wanted to do something," he says. His story is a testament to how much a single person can achieve—even under the most adverse circumstances.

The Ute Bock Prize recognizes Alyousef's commitment to education, humanity, and integration. The award stands for civil courage—and Shaher Alyousef embodies precisely that.

Further information about the Ute Bock Prize 2025 and the other prize winners can be found on the website of the Ute Bock Association:

www.fraubock.at – Bock Prize 2025: Top-class commitment

 

Here is another report on our website about Shaher’s involvement 

Shaher and the children in the camp

 

If you want to support Shaher's passion project

Team Gablitz is helping! – Refugee aid

IBAN: AT03&2011&1828&5223&6800

Intended use: Food for kindergarten and school

Donations to the association "Gablitz hilft" are tax deductible.

 

Many thanks to Julia Hudler for the great organization of the event