www.lebunited.org Since 2006, Child of Lebanon and Lebanon United have joined hands to fund specific projects in child caring NGOs in Lebanon. Lebanon United, a London-based volunteer group, raises money and awareness to support humanitarian, educational and sustainable development initiatives in Lebanon. Projects are presented by Child of Lebanon and fund raising events are organized by Lebanon United in support of such projects. The following events and projects were realized to date: $5,500 for 50 beehives - 2006 / 2007 50 beehives were purchased for Beit al Hassad, an orphanage which shelters 48 children located in Bourj el Moulouk near Marjeyoun. The hives are expected to produce about 850kg of honey, of which some will be consumed by the children, other kept for the bees and the rest sold to generate an estimated $2,500 p.a. _____________________________________ STG 30,000 for the rehabilitation of the dormitory / school building at Sayda Zeinab – 2007 / 2008 Project presented by Lebanon United to Barclays Bank The Sayda Zeinab orphanage located in Jibsheet (South Lebanon) was established in 1981. The initial plan was to have two separate buildings, one for schooling and the other for a dormitory. The civil war, regional armed conflicts and ensuing turmoil in the region allowed only for the building of the school. The present set up is very inadequate as the existing building raises and shelters 350 children, while

providing them also with in-house schooling. The building was seriously damaged during the war. Some of the remnants of the troubles are still evident, as the building needed of a serious and urgent “face lift” inside out. The main façade is the south façade, which receives wind and rain. It leaks water from cracks and from badly fitted windows frames. The building was used without any external paint until 1992. In 1996, a partial and basic maintenance to the façades was performed. Some obvious cracks in concrete and in cement plaster as well as in exposed columns were treated grossly with primal materials. Rooms are humid because of water leakage. All hallways and many classrooms and bedrooms need paint every year also because of humidity. The building is 22 meters high and around 90 meters long. It comprises five floors with a total surface of 5500 m². Surface of façades is about 3500 m2 out of which windows cover around 750 m² Facades Cost in $ Civil work, including scaffolding 7,000 cleaning, scrubbing, water jetting to identify defects and prepare walls 15,000 removal of defects, protection and reinforcement of metal bars with 25,000 anti corrosion, anti shrinkage mortar, concrete repair and external mortar window joints filling with polystyrene mastic 4,000 electricity wiring, guiding and protection, 3,000 rain water piping repair 6,000 TOTAL $60,000 Start of execution: late April early May 2008 Duration: 2 months _____________________________________

$4,900 for the continuous education of 35 teachers at the Dr. M. Khaled Foundation – 2007 / 2008 The Foundation, located in the Ouzai region (Beirut), was established in 1958. It includes an orphanage that shelters 442 children, a school that is also open free of charge to a number of non resident children, a clinic and a medical rehabilitation center.

A long-term project is to build a school that would accommodate up to 750 students so as to give the option for the child to pursue his education at the Foundation after completing his schooling at the age of 15. The teaching and training sessions target the 35 teachers of the Preschool and Elementary classes with the final beneficiaries being the 442 children the teachers educate. The sessions will be divided into 2 modules. The first module will be conducted by a team lead by Dr. A. Qweini, a specialist in psychological counseling and will address issues related to learning disabilities and behavior disorders. The second module will be lead by academic specialists supervised by Ms. Souheir Zein, a school director and specialist in the field of Early Childhood. In total, the sessions will last a total of 33 days or 120 hours spread over 2 to 3 months so as not to disrupt the regular teaching at the Foundation. There will be a follow up with periodic visits to the school to evaluate the progress with one on one discussion with the teachers about the lesson planning and obstacles they face and through class observations. Although data is not available in Lebanon, it estimated that about 25% of the students have learning difficulties with about 5% having a learning disability. Most students with learning difficulties are first noticed in early elementary school grades. Learning disabilities are often termed 'hidden disabilities' because the student's strengths in some areas often mask or hide learning problems, and because they do not have physical symptoms like some other special needs. Students with learning difficulties often fail in schools if they do not receive adequate assistance This category of students needs support in the form of remediation strategies. However, assisting them cannot be achieved without a thorough understanding of their unique learning style, and expertise in selecting adequate strategies to help them learn more effectively. Such cases are generally compounded in socially difficult environment as oftentimes parental guidance is lacking. The first module will provide the attendees with the knowledge and tools to teach a wide range of students with different learning styles and special needs. They will acquire a thorough understanding of such learning difficulties, how they manifest themselves, diagnose them and efficiently address them. The sessions will include topics such as: • • • • • • • •

Introduction to learning disability: definition, symptoms, types and diagnosis. Assessment of learning disability: informal testing and standardized instruments Dyslexia Phonological awareness Instructional strategies for reading difficulties: decoding and comprehension Spelling strategies Handwriting and written expression Remedial programs

The second module complement the first and will address recent brain researches and the relevant strategies and techniques used in Active and Cooperative Learning whereby children actively and effectively participate the teaching process with the decrease in learning difficulties. The sessions will include topics such as: • • • • • •

Recent brain researches and the importance of strategies and techniques used in Active Learning. Cooperative Learning (types and benefits) and its relationship with Active Learning. Specific cases. Workshops and Academic projects enhancing the child's role and participation in the learning process Individual and intelligence differences and how to address them in one classroom. Devising specific activities to apply in class based on stories read for the children and other practical methods. Prepare activities that take into consideration the individuals differences to be applied in class. _____________________________________

STG 26,180 for the addition of a new dormitory wing at the Maison Notre Dame – 2007 / 2008 Project presented by Lebanon United to Barclays Bank In 1980, Sister Virginie Maalouf, after having helped in various orphanages and noting the lack of warmth in some of the institutions, established, with the assistance of friends, the "Maison de Notre Dame des Dons pour l'Enfant Heureux" which welcomed, in a modest 4 room apartment, over 50 needy children. In 1987, after construction materials to build an 800 m² building were donated, funds were borrowed to finance the purchase of a piece of land and the construction of the present four floor building at Ksara, next to Zahle. By now over 400 children have stayed at some stage or another at the "family". The orphanage welcomes 164 children (of which 110 are resident, 92 girls and 18 boys aged 1 to 22) in an embracing family atmosphere. The children attend school in the neighborhood and follow music and theater classes, with some excelling in those fields. The Maison also offers daily free vocational training (sewing, languages, computer and cooking) to 19 young girls who had to interrupt their schooling to join their parents working in the fields. Another 16 girls come twice a week.

The orphanage has run short of space with the number of resident children growing far beyond expectations as the economic and social situation worsened. A large dining area and study rooms have been added over the last 4 years and work has begun to add a new wing with 7 bedrooms, their toilets and living area to accommodate the youth and relieve the crowdedness in the sleeping quarters. This new wing will be dedicated to 18 boys above the age of 14 who should not be sleeping with children of other age groups. Work has however stalled as funds dried out. The table below identifies the work done to date and in blue what remains to completed:

Cost in $ External finishing work Galvanized steel 1mm under roof tiles with drainage Extruded polystyrene 5 cm Aluminum partitions double glazed and defensive steel for external elevations External decorative white plaster with grooves including scaffolding Waterproofing for elevations Internal finishing work False ceiling Wooden doors Internal partition: blocs and plaster Wooden cabinets for kitchen plus longitudinal bars and chairs Ceramics for floors Ceramics for toilets Electro-mechanical work Lighting and switches Plumbing works: PVC, PPR pipes, sinks, mixers, heat, water tanks Heating works: Boiler, Burner, circulator, alupipes and aluminum radiators and pumps … Furniture Beds and closets Desks Living room Total to complete Start of execution: as soon as funding is available Duration: 2 months

5,600 1,800 38,500 11,784 2,946 7,680 14,800 10,548 7,180 6,912 9,542 5,200 17,200 11,600

9,500 3,600 4,400 52,360

$9,700 for a training program for the 36 educators at Ahlouna on the subject of Conflict Resolution and Active Learning – 2007 / 2008 A highly acclaimed concert in London by Wissam Boustany was organized by Lebanon United with all the proceeds of $9,700 allocated to a training program for the educators at Ahlouna. The association was founded in 1997 by a group of women in Saida and located in a small apartment in which new and used clothes were collected and distributed to needy families. In 2001, Ahlouna moved to a larger apartment which it equipped to prepare variety of Oriental and Lebanese agro-products (jams, cookies…). Since then, Ahlouna established a health care assistance for people with no medical coverage, became active in seeking employment for underprivileged women and established a program to provide meals and supplies to needy families. Ahlouna embarked in 2003 on a far reaching and large scale education program to help poor children who are about to drop out from school while caring in parallel for the children at their homes. During the course of the visits to the families, it was evident that the low education level (or lack of it) of the parents and the oftentimes unhealthy family atmosphere1 is negatively impacting their child’s academic performance. As a result and over time a majority of those children drop out of school an end up in child labor or roaming the streets with all the risks this entails2. To efficiently address this issue, a team of educators was formed in 2003 to assist 45 children in their homework on Fridays and Sundays in the premises of a public school in Saida. As the program proved to be much in demand, the number of enrolled children rapidly grew to reach 334 by 2008, the number of days per week was increased to 4 and the team of educators expanded. A 3 week summer camp activity was also added.

1

Broken families, violence against the child etc… Only 28% of the students in public schools start and finish their educational years in those schools (source: Ministry of Education) 2

In parallel, Ahlouna meets once a month with the school teachers, discuss the child’s progress and coordinate efforts and take remedial actions if need be. Regular meetings are also held with the parents, encouraging them to support their child’s progress. This also provides Ahlouna with the opportunity to organize awareness raising workshops that target the children and their parents on issues related to hygiene, children rights etc…. A detailed file is prepared for each child which includes amongst other things an assessment of their parents attitude, the opinion of the school’s teacher and the child’s results. A monthly report is presented to the Board on the progress of the program. The objective of this program is not only to improve the child’s academic performance but as importantly to give him a feeling of empowerment and to raise his interest in education by making him feel he is an active and willing participant and not just a recipient of information. The results to date have been very encouraging. During this school year, 334 children aged 6 to 14 years old are enrolled, all coming from socially deprived and poor families, with no parental guidance, and running a high risk of failing in their studies. The children, who are very often victims of violence from the parents or the neighborhood, are restless and instinctively tend to reject all forms of authority or rule of law. The children come from 3 schools in Saida: Madrassat al Islah for girls, Madrassat Al Haditha for boys and Madrassat Ain el Heloue. The sessions last 110 days and are conducted by 36 volunteers working under the supervision of Ahlouna’s managing team. They take place from 16:30 to 18:30, 4 days a week and are held in the above mentioned schools, and for 80 of children, from other schools in Ahlouna’s partially completed Center. It is Ahlouna’s objective to have the Center fully operational as soon as funds are raised so as to extract the children from their school environment when enrolled in this project. A further 2 floors are to be built and equipped. The children come and return to their homes in buses rented by Ahlouna. To date, 628 children have benefited from this program. Besides the Center, Ahlouna also owns a ground floor office dedicated for the children’s education and a small apartment where clothes are distributed Ahlouna objective is to establish in the next 3 to 5 years a service to also assist school dropouts reintegrate the educational system. It is now done on a limited scale; Ahlouna managed to have 12 children rejoin school successfully the last 2 years and has 20 children attend the afternoon sessions to learn reading and writing.