SOS Children's Villages Opens Education Centre in Lebanon

SOS Children's Villages has opened an education and vocational training centre in the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon; the centre has received support from Luxembourg.

In Lebanon, winter has begun with violent storms that have already affected thousands of Syrian refugees and may endanger the lives of many children living in extreme poverty. It was against this backdrop that SOS Children's Villages Lebanon inaugurated an educational centre in Ksarnaba in the Beqaa Valley on Tuesday 15 January 2019.

The official opening ceremony brought together representatives of local authorities, members of SOS Children's Villages International and SOS Children's Villages Lebanon including its President, Afifa Arsanios, its director, Amine Boustany, and the director of the SOS Children's Village of Ksarnaba, Salman Dirani. Some teachers and social workers as well as young people were also present, as well as director of SOS Children's Villages World (and SOS Villages d'Enfants Monde Luxembourg) Sophie Glesener and programme manager Laurence Wangla. Indeed the centre was supported by the Luxembourg association, the Luxembourg Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and a number of donors.

In the Beqaa Valley, a border region of Syria with hundreds of thousands of refugees in informal settlements, the prefabricated education centre, located at the entrance of SOS Children's Village Ksarnaba, has several wings and a dozen rooms. It is part of an innovative education programme that aims to support out-of-school youth. Since the end of 2017, the project has been developing and has already enabled the organisation of awareness-raising activities and community events. Literacy, e-learning, psychosocial support, acquisition of life skills, vocational training and parental support feature on this programme, whilst a Child Friendly Space will welcome younger children with recreational activities. 770 young Syrian refugees, vulnerable young Lebanese and their parents or guardians are involved in this education programme which, alongside personal and professional development, has a strong social dimension.

During her visit, Sophie Glesener visited two of the six informal camps where Syrian refugees benefit from this new education programme and other SOS programmes. She commented that: "With the storms and the cold weather affecting the entire region, the living conditions of children and their families are becoming unsustainable. We must help them protect themselves and face the winter."

From its infrastructure in Ksarnaba, SOS Children's Villages Lebanon remains mobilised to help families in extreme vulnerability. The association has started distributing warm clothing to Syrian refugee families who are suffering from the cold weather conditions in the country.