Author Archives: Lebanon Trust

Lebanon Trust’s volunteers’ work at FAID

Our volunteers’ work at FAID (November 2019)

 

    

 

This was our volunteer’s 12th consecutive visit to FAID, School for the Deaf, in Beirut.

We painted and renovated the Vocational Training room, where FAID’s children will be trained to become hairdressers; did many maintenance tasks at the school; cleaned up the garden and fixed and re-installed the clinic door.

At the end of our stay, we all shared chocolates & cheers with the all the children.

Thanks to our donors, we were able to help the school with

– USD 8000 for the speech therapy,
– USD 2000 for heating fuel
– and we financed the renovation work that we carried out

We look forward to next year’s visit!

Visit to the Shatila refugee camp, Nov 2019

Visit to the kindergarten of the Shatila refugee camp (November 2019)

The Shatila camp hosts more than 10 thousand people on a surface on approximately 1 square kilometre, an exceptionally high population density. Conditions are really very difficult.

Schooling is provided by the United Nations, except for kindergartens. We at Lebanon Trust support a kindergarten run by our partner Association Najdeh.

Like every year, we visited this kindergarten, and – like every year – we experienced the joy of seeing the teachers, exceptionally motivated and resourceful, and meeting the children, aged between 3 and 5. They sang for us (in English!) and were enchanted by soap bubbles.

Thanks to our supporters, we were able to donate USD 3000 to them, towards improvements to the building and the purchase of teaching materials.

Volunteers in Lebanon, 2019

Despite the volatile situation, our volunteers went to Lebanon last month (Nov 2019)

     

Widespread, non-sectarian protests have been taking place in Lebanon without interruption since October 17, 2019. The protests are motivated by the government’s failure to provide basic services (such as electricity, drinking water, garbage collection) and find solutions to an economic crisis that has been looming for quite some time, because of corruption and waste of public money. These protests cause some disruptions – such as blocked roads – and the banks, when they are open, limit withdrawals.

Despite the possible volatility of the situation, our volunteers travelled to Lebanon for their annual working visit.

(pictures: from Wikipedia)

Community Foundation of Collier County

A huge thank you to the David & Kathleen Halpin Fund of the Community Foundation of Collier County, Naples, FL (USA), for their continued support

Once again, a generous donation of USD 1500 will support Lebanon Trust’s charitable projects in favour of the disadvantaged and refugee children of Lebanon. Our deep gratitude and a special thought go to Kathleen and Mick Halpin for their friendship and constant help. We would lke to thank to all staff and members of the Foundation as well.

Lebanon Trust volunteers on their 2019 mission

Lebanon Trust volunteers on their 2019 mission

Once again, Lebanon Trust’s volunteers are heading to Lebanon. For two weeks in November, they will visit FAID School for the Deaf, the Association Najdeh‘s refugee kindergartens, and the institute for orphaned and street children Home of Hope Lebanon, doing practical work and delivering financial support, thanks to our friends and donors!

A huge THANK YOU to all the generous people who helped us this year!

A fantastic cake sale at Symantec

A fantastic cake sale at Symantec

Our wonderful friends at Symantec in Dublin organised a galactic cake sale – and raised more than EUR 1000 for our projects!

We are speechless and cannot thank them enough for such a wonderful generosity. This is amazing. Your generosity, dear friends, will go a long way to help vulnerable children, refugees and orphans. Thank you, Mick Halpin, Stephanie Derwojed, Fabio Fantino, Tina, Alexandra, and all who participated, from the bottom of our hearts.

 

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To Hell And Back, for a good cause: our bravest friends

To Hell And Back, for a good cause: our bravest friends

A great team of Lebanon Trust’s friends took up the famous – and strenuos -“To Hell And Back”, Ireland’s toughest physical and mental endurance challenge, to raise funds for our charitable projects. Above, team leader Andy Walsh hands over more than EUR 400 to Christy, Lebanon Trust’s chairman.

We thank them deeply & sincerely for the pain and suffering endured for the cause! Thank you brave friends!

cake sale 27 june 2019

Thursday, June 27th, 2019: great cake sale at Symantec in Dublin, in favour of Lebanon Trust’s projects

On the last Thursday of June our friends at Symantec Dublin will hold a great cake sale, to raise funds in favour on Lebanon Trust’s projects. Yummy sweets, raffles and spot prizes for all – and a huge THANK YOU to all, organisers, bakers and supporters!

 

fundraising event June 2019

Thank you champions!

A huge THANK YOU and all our gratitude to Lebanon Trust’s friends Andy Walsh, Stephen O’Toole, Anthony Smith and Stephen Malone, who put their time and energy to raise funds for our projects.

Lebanon Trust couldn’t help anybody without friends like you!!!

May 2019: news from FAID

May 2019: news from FAID

FAID’s latest newletter contains updates and many news about their activities with the children:

– Lebanon’s Independence Day celebrated at the Presidential palace with the President and the First Lady

– The First Lady, Ms Nadia Aoun, hosted the launch of FAID’s campaign for early intervention of hard-of-hearing children, with the support of 10 NGOs

– The children were delighted and immensely proud to celebrate the National Flag Day with the Lebanse Army, whose troops hoisted the flag at FAID and whose orchestra played military music

– A vocational training on basic agricolture and food production took place at FAID

– Two special classes were created to meet the needs of students who joined FAID at a relatively late age without previous education

– FAID is piloting an “outreach program” in the settlements of Syrian refugees in Lebanon. It concentrates on educating parents to communicated with and helping their deaf children

– and many other news.

Lebanon Trust features promimently in the newsletter, with many pictures and a description of the work we did at FAID last year: the renovation of the Computer Room and the Earmould Laboratory, scraping and painting walls, windows, railings and doors, replacing the old carpet with a new one; painting and maintenance work on girls’ dormitory playground that we built in 2016, and  a complete clearance of the overgrowth in the garden. Also, we provided a 30-metre net for the playground, to allow the children to play safely and not lose their footballs.

A new life and hope for deaf kids at FAID

A new life, and hope for the future, for deaf refugee children in Lebanon, thanks to FAID and UNHCR

FAID, the school for deaf children that we help since 2008, hosts 24 Syrian refugees, all deaf. Here they receive an education, are assisted by speech therapists, and – most of all – find a new life and hope for the future. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) supports these children at FAID, as FAID’s Gladys explains in this video. Also, specialists and volunteers from FAID bring their invaluable help to Syrian refugee settlements, thus reaching deaf children who otherwise would not be helped at all. Enjoy the video!

The Irish Examiner: an article about FAID, the Home of Hope and refugee camps that we support

The Irish Examiner: an article about FAID, the Home of Hope and refugee camps that we support

(Credit: Irish Examiner)

A new article on the Irish Examiner, by journalist Victoria White, describes the difficulties of refugee, homeless and special-needs children in Lebanon, with a special focus on The Home of Hope and FAID, that we have been supporting for many years. Ms White spoke with Grace of FAID and Brady of the Home of Hope during her trip to Lebanon earlier this year.