During 2011 Nordisk Hjälp, together with our partner organizations, carried out a series of successful projects!
The homework help project naturally included much more than just homework help. It was carried out between November 2010 and July 2011, with the support from Radiohjälpen, and was aimed at children and youth at UNRWA schools in the Ein El-Helweh refugee camp to support them with teaching in parallel with their school studies. The support was in the form of homework help and motivational talks for further studies, supportive talks about the problems they have at school that have to do with their goals, focus and self-esteem, as well as support talks about life outside school.
Our partner organization offered activities aimed at changing their outlook on life (and their future) and increasing their self-confidence. Field trips and extracurricular activities (including arts and music, culture-oriented field trips and sports) were arranged once a month to make the students have fun and to make them more interested in school.
This is especially important to focus on given that surveys carried out by UNRWA in the camp have shown that the level of education have decreased and that the number of students leaving school (especially at primary level) have increased drastically. The surveys also show that a large number of students do not believe that they can pass their studies or that they can continue with their studies at a higher level.
The support to UNRWA schools decreases year after year, the education system suffers and the result affects the students who have various problems which the education system cannot always solve. The students cannot solve the problems within the school either because they lack the ability to do so, they lack sufficient knowledge about problem solving, they lack self-confidence, decision-making, awareness of health and gender issues, goals and focus.
The investigation by UNWRA also shows that drugs, alcohol and smoking are problems that the schools in the camp deal with. Therefore the health issue was also an important sub-goal in the project, and a positive result regarding these areas would reflect and benefit society outside of the main target group.
Awareness & Consolation Association, our local partner organization, was the organization responsible for the implementation of the project. The organization has many projects and activities going on in the area and collaborates with many different associations and stakeholders. They have planned the implementation of the project in collaboration with another organization which runs an education center within the refugee camp and which has a good reputation based on the good results and success of the students who usually receive help through the education center over the years. Most students who received help via the education center were in grades 6-9. The teaching team has relevant university education and all have a teaching background. The study counselor who conducts the support interviews has qualified training in the field.
In their results report, they reported (among other things) that all students who were previously in the risk zone of not passing school or dropping out had now improved their results. 85 – 90% were now estimated to be able to continue to the next year. They had noticed a clear positive development in terms of self-confidence and ability to react and act positively with their surroundings, built self confidence and capacity of youth in the camp to react positively with the surrounding environment. 90 – 95% of parents had expressed satisfaction with the help provided to their child.
The teacher-parent relationship improved, and many parents now showed a clear interest in helping their children and supporting them in their schooling.
Awareness & Consolation Association is a Lebanese non-profit association founded in 1994 and approved by the Lebanese Ministry of Interior (No. 640/A.d.). The association is well established in Lebanon
and has carried out many different projects and activities, worked for the good of humanity, support and for the development of civil society but also for the strengthening of democracy and human rights.
The association is based in the city of Saida in the southern part of Lebanon where the Ein El-Helweh camp is located and because that camp is part of Saida, it makes it easier for the association to follow up with the implementation of the projects. We have had a cooperation agreement (signed in 2007) with the association, and it has lasted for over four years. We are in continuous contact and the association is well established in Saida, South Lebanon. For more information about the Awareness & Consolation Association, see their website: https://daleel-madani.org/profile/awareness-and-consolation-association
The project was an emergency support for Palestinian refugee families living in the Nahr El Bared camp (which was completely destroyed during the 2007 war). Promises for reconstruction or to alleviate their suffering have not yielded any results, they are still scattered and in difficulty with no possibility and no financial resources to rent housing. Some live in garages, some in old dilapidated buildings, with relatives, on other refugee extensions, and some live in an area besieged by the Lebanese army and where you need permission to enter. The families are having a very difficult time. They are very poor and therefore this emergency food package project was necessary.
Throughout this project, we were able to distribute food packages to needy families. The food packages included, among other things: flour, rice, oil, salt, hygiene items, diapers, etc.
Poor families in Lebanon cannot afford to pay for eye examinations, buy eye medicine or get glasses. Poverty and unemployment mean that people simply cannot afford the much needed eye care. The project aimed to facilitate such poor families and orphans through early examinations and with the acquisition of eye care to be able to continue their lives with better health conditions.
The goal of this project was to be able to help 3,500 people through continuous examinations and the purchase of eye medicine, plus to help 500 people with the exchange or purchase of glasses. Our thought was that the implementation of the project would have great positive effects on several levels of society, as the individuals would receive this support at the right time (before the problems become even more serious), and thereby allow them to continue studies, activities and their lives with less problems and better health.
The target group were poor families and orphaned children who cannot afford eye examinations or treatments. There were 3,500 people, boys and girls, who received continuous examinations and the purchase of eye medicine, + 500 people who also received help in buying or changing glasses.
The association “Awareness & Consolation Association” works with and carries out various projects and activities in the region consisting of various villages (Alnaima, Harit Alnaima, Aljiaa, Alsadiat, Albirgin, Barga, Baasir, Daraia, Anout, Hasrout, Bsaba, Alsaroria, Shim, Mazboud, Almigairia, Delhon, Ketermaya, Siblin, Alwarania, Wadi Alzini, Zarout Aljia, Alskmais). During their work, they have seen the need for eye treatments and believed that this type of effort would help many families and individuals, who cannot afford to get eye treatments.
After the support from us and Radiohjälpen, they were able to enter into agreements with eye specialists and various health centers to be able to carry out the project and thus raise the standard of the children’s and poor families’ health situation. The association organized doctor’s visits for eye examinations, the purchase of medicine, the exchange or acquisition of new glasses, and the project ran as planned for six months – between November 2010 and April 2011.
“Awareness & Consolation Association” is a Lebanese non-profit association that was established in 1994 and has been approved by the Lebanese Ministry of the Interior (No. 640/A.d.). The association is well established in the country and has over time carried out many different projects and activities as well as worked for humanitarian support and for the development of civil society as well as for the strengthening of democracy and human rights. Here you can read more about them: daleel-madani.org
The project was a collaboration between Nordisk Hjälp – Emmaus – Tuwa, and in November 2011 we drove down 7 ambulances and medical equipment to 6 Palestinian refugee facilities in Lebanon. The situation in these refugee facilities is very alarming and the refugees have very poor access to healthcare.
A total of 14 people participated in this 2 week trip down to Lebanon; doctors, nurses, volunteers, film crews, organizational staff and car mechanics are some of those who came along on the trip. The adventure began in Malmö and we went through Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey.
Despite many complications – including the escalating conflict in Syria which caused issues – the project was ultimately very successful and the ambulances arrived and are now in use in 6 Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. A documentary has been made about the journey down and the visits to the refugee camps, which will shortly be published here on the website.
