COMMUNITY
School and Hygiene Supplies Help Ensure No One is Left Behind
Dec, 2020
“Almost none of our students can afford to buy their own stationary. Now they don’t need to worry about it.”
Many of us are fortunate to take a lot of basic everyday comforts for granted. Things like quilts, notebooks, soap, toothpaste and pens. Yet these items mean a great deal to someone without them, who may be living in a refugee camp or in a city that recently experienced a devastating explosion. These items are simple, yet very much needed.
Thanks to a donation by Lutheran World Relief, and with facilitation from the Lebanon High Relief Committee in clearing the shipment at port, Anera has distributed 47,700 hygiene kits, school kits and quilts to vulnerable families across Lebanon.
Lebanon’s spiraling inflation rate has meant many families are anxious about being able to afford the dramatically increased prices on even the most basic goods. Students who have received the school kits no longer need to worry about being able to buy school materials this year.
Throughout the country, Anera has coordinated with our local partners to ensure that every kit is delivered to the families most in need.
Lamia Issa is an Arabic instructor with one of Anera’s local partner organizations, the Women's Programs Association, in Beddawi Palestinian Refugee Camp in North Lebanon. The center hosts nearly 200 students between the ages of 11 and 23, who receive non-formal educational support. She says,
Lamia Issa is an Arabic instructor with one of Anera’s local partner organizations, the Women's Programs Association, in Beddawi Palestinian Refugee Camp in North Lebanon. The center hosts nearly 200 students between the ages of 11 and 23, who receive non-formal educational support. She says,
“Almost none of our students can afford to buy their own stationary. Now they don’t need to worry about it.”
“The hygiene kits are also as important,” Lamia says. “The kids are excited about them. Honestly, [due to the approaching winter] the timing could not have been better."
In nearby Koura, outside of the city of Tripoli, Khaled is a student in one of Anera’s job skills training courses. The 21-year-old from the village of Bahsas is learning skills that will position him to find work and improve his living conditions. He studies plumbing at Zmerly & Co, a training provider and sustainable solutions company.
He tells us, “This vocational course will change my life. I am learning so much and meeting so many new people. These items are like a gift for our hard work. Thank you for your support Anera!”
“One day I hope I’ll be able to help others like this!”
Sally Aswad is in charge of the vocational training that Khaled is participating in at Zmerly Academy. She says,
“These donations are essential and very beneficial.”
“All the students come from a disadvantaged social environment,” she notes. “Things like the quilts and the stationary help them and their families at home. Of course, with the coronavirus the hygiene materials are very much needed."
Further south, in Beirut and its suburbs, Anera has focused on schools affected by the Beirut blast and refugee families struggling to make ends meet.
At the Wardieh school in Sin El Fil, we have distributed 300 kits. Anera’s Maria Berbari, who supervised the distribution, says,
“The students were ecstatic — they loved their gifts! They have been in lockdown for so long. And they are still suffering from PTSD due to the blast. But their shared happiness is therapeutic.”
Kristy, 9, lives near the site of the blast. Fortunately, she and her family survived. But the difficult circumstances in Lebanon have not spared children.
“I live with my family in Borj Hammoud,” she tells us. “I got soap, hand cream, a hairbrush, a toothbrush, and so many blankets! I still need scissors and a ruler, please.”
Kristy is worried that they will have to return to online-only classes. “School might stop again because of corona and I will study remotely online, so I need an iPad please.”
She says,
“I prefer going to school, not being at home! The internet goes away when my teacher is talking! That is why everyone should be careful and wear their mask like I do! So we can go back to normal! We want school to be at school.”
Sister Mylan is the principal at Wardieh, Kristy’s school. She laments that when she started her job six years ago, "Our students' families lived in much better conditions than now.”
Fortunately, she says,
“Lutheran World Relief’s donations came just in time. It is getting colder every day and the quilts are perfect."
Across town in Burj El Barajneh Refugee Camp near the Beirut airport, Anera again partnered with the Women Programs Association to identify the most vulnerable families. Anera’s Aya Hawarne, supervised the distributions of 1,000+ school kits at Burj El Barajneh and two other nearby Palestinian camps, Shatila and Rashidieh.
She says,
“It isn't just the items. We are distributing hope during these very harsh economic conditions.”
Aman is raising her children in the camp. She says,
“As parents, we want to be able to give or children anything they want. But these days we can no longer afford even pens and notebooks! Most mothers were using old notebooks, erasing what they could off the pages.”
Mariam Issa is a project coordinator for the Women Programs Association. She says,
“All the parents of our literacy program students were apologizing for not being able to purchase ANY learning materials. Many of them say ‘we are finding it hard to feed our children, let alone buy them crayons!”
And in southern Lebanon, Anera and the Women Programs Association again partnered in the Ein El Hilweh Palestinian Refugee Camp to distribute the kits.
Nisreen Dhabra, a project coordinator with Women Programs Association, says,
“The stationery is very useful, and so were the towels! The blankets were really on point and very good for the cold season.”
“Unfortunately,” Nisreen says, “people cannot afford such blankets nowadays, and this winter will be hard enough on them as it is.”
Thanks to Lutheran World Relief and our local partners for helping to ensure that no one is left behind.
