Help for a school project in the refugee ghetto
Thanks to the young journalist Kamar, whom we met in Beirut, we were able to establish intensive contact with the Palestinians in the Shatila refugee camp. The people there are still considered refugees after decades and have very few rights, they are, so to speak, “second class people”.
There are also hardly any educational opportunities for the thousands of people in Shatila … That is why we were particularly impressed by the young teacher Batoul: Despite the adverse conditions on site, she manages to teach over 200 children between 6-14 years of age. And yet she didn’t even have a blackboard or pens.
These circumstances led us to use part of the donation money for Batoul and her students. We used it to buy blackboards, exercise books, pens, globes and other teaching materials.
While we were in Lebanon, it was no longer possible for us to find suitable rooms for Batoul’s classes. The 27-year-old teacher taught in a tiny room with no windows and sometimes no electricity. Most of the students sat on the floor, there were no tables. We worked at full speed from Austria on a good solution to find suitable premises. But without being there, it was almost impossible. Fate sent us the right person at the right time: We met the Brazilian Guilherme in Beirut. He joined the caravan with enthusiasm and after our departure he continued to look after the school project with great commitment.
A few days ago Guilherme managed to find a suitable building in the refugee ghetto! The caravan pays the rent for one year in advance and also finances the furnishing of the classrooms. We have made available EUR 5,238 of the donations for this purpose. Many thanks to all of our donors who have made this help possible and give hundreds of children their right to education!
We are wholeheartedly grateful to Guilherme that he carries on the spirit of the caravan on site and we are in constant contact with him.
Thanks also to Kamar, the critical journalist, who often finds it very difficult to do her work in Lebanon without restrictions. Without them we would never have found out about this wonderful project.
What we are missing now is the right name for our school project! We would be very happy if we received suggestions from you – please comment on facebook under the postings about the school project. Important: the name should be English. You are welcome to share your ideas with us by December 20th, 21st – thank you for your input, we are looking forward to it!