Provide Education for Vulnerable People in Lebanon

Mahraba everyone,

The first cycle of our education project ended in July in Mount Lebanon and at the refugee camp in Bekaa. All students who enrolled in numeracy and literacy courses and took the post-test have shown a significant increase in their knowledge. Especially the weakest students have more than doubled their score! In our cooking classes, aspiring chefs have demonstrated remarkable commitment despite challenging circumstances and some of them have now an opportunity to start a business. Not only do these courses provide an opportunity to learn new skills or knowledge, but they also create a safe space for students to forge connections among themselves and their professors.

For the girls and women in the Bekaa camp who never had acces to literacy and numeracy courses before it is a start to gaining self-confidence and building autonomy. Moreover the courses are taught by other Camp residents who have teaching experience and can once again exercise their skills to strengthen the community. It is a virtuous circle that allows refugees to realize that they have solutions to make them actors of their futures. Some mothers come to class with the desire to be able to pass on this knowledge to their children in the eventuality or they would not have access to school normally.

In our cooking and pastry classes, our students have learned innovative or traditional recipes that can be replicated without incurring too much expense. These recipes can, for example, constitute the menu of a small restaurant that a student would have created with the help of the scholarship given at the end of the cycle. This scholarship was created to reward and encourage our best students to trust themselves and exist by themselves by promoting their financial autonomy. It was a reward for us to hear from a student: "This is the first time I have made a decision for myself!”

At the beginning of September, after a month of vacation for the teaching team, it is time for the start of the school year with the beginning of cycle 2 of our activities. New students will be assessed on their knowledge and the results will be used to measure their progress at the end of the cycle. For this session, we will set up a transport system to help students come to class because we now know that for some families it can promote the integration of girls in our programs.

Thank you for taking an interest in our activities and supporting us, in the next report we will talk about the balance sheet of this year's activities. Stay tuned !

Best regards,