Education gives a teenager new dreamsEducation gives a teenager new dreamsEducation gives a teenager new dreamsEducation gives a teenager new dreams
  • Home
  • Who we are
  • How we work
  • What we do
    • Earthquake response
    • Beirut explosion response
    • Covid-19 response
    • Basic needs
    • Education & Child Protection
    • Livelihoods
  • News
    • Blog posts
    • Press review
    • They talk about us
    • Sign up
  • Get involved
    • Pray
    • Donate
    • Raise awareness
    • Contact us
  • Home
  • Who we are
  • How we work
  • What we do
    • Earthquake response
    • Beirut explosion response
    • Covid-19 response
    • Basic needs
    • Education & Child Protection
    • Livelihoods
  • News
    • Blog posts
    • Press review
    • They talk about us
    • Sign up
  • Get involved
    • Pray
    • Donate
    • Raise awareness
    • Contact us
The lasting impact of education
October 10, 2018
Iraqi refugee in Lebanon
Makeup training helps an Iraqi refugee in Lebanon learn new skills
November 6, 2018

Education gives a teenager new dreams

October 20, 2018
Categories
  • Education & protection
  • Meet our friends
Tags
  • child protection
  • education
  • Lebanon
  • refugees
Education gives new dreams and wings

MEET DIMA

Education gives new dreams and wings

“Before the war in Syria, life was decent although we were not living in luxury. My husband was a painter, and I was a housewife. When the war started we witnessed very scary things: kidnappings, fighting, airplanes flying over and dropping bombs. Someone even tried to kidnap our eldest daughter Dima. She was only eight at the time. A man came from nowhere, carried her, and started running away. He tried putting her in a car but thank God, I had time to stop it from taking her away.  That was terrifying. I had nightmares for a long time after this. My daughter would wake me up and tell me everything was OK. But it was not. It took me four years to heal from this trauma.
My four children and I have been in Lebanon for six years now.  It was very difficult at first. Even though there are of course good people, some others  did not make us feel welcome here. For two years I could not put my children to school, they had to stay at home with me all day. Before I could enroll Dima in the MERATH partner education center, she used to beg me to bring  her a home teacher but I could not pay for one. We used to fight about this!
She has now been in the center for a year, and the quality of the education there turned out to be great, much better than other schools! It is more than just academics : there is an extra care in this center. The teachers encourage the kids to give their best and study always more.
Now Dima seems to better cope with our difficult situation in Lebanon and she has many dreams : she wants to travel abroad and study. I really hope she can pursue those dreams. This is why we are really hesitant to go back to Syria, where her dad’s family wants to marry her to one of her cousins.
I am very thankful for the people who support this center and I want to encourage them to support even more because there are still many children who do not have access to any kind of education.”

This is the first school that I love that much. If we do something wrong, the teachers don’t just shout at us : they sit and talk with us and take time to clarify what is wrong and how to fix it. I wrote this letter for the teachers to thank them, because I deeply love them and I was sad the school was closing for the summer!

>Read Dima’s beautiful letter to her teachers

>Know more about our education and child protection programs

> Check out our annual report

> Contact us

Share
10

Related posts

November 2, 2022

Quarterly highlights – Q3 2022


Read more
October 20, 2022

A part of us died last winter


Read more
September 9, 2022

Bringing much needed joy and beauty to life


Read more

Comments are closed.

Search

Our mission

Through local partners, MERATH implements relief and development projects for thousands of displaced and vulnerable families in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq in the fields of basic needs, education and child protection and livelihoods.

Latest posts

  • Through Him who gives us strength
    March 1, 2023
  • Quarterly highlights – Q3 2022
    November 2, 2022
  • Winter in the time of Cholera
    November 1, 2022

Tags

agriculture basic needs Beirut explosion child protection COVID19 development education faith-based partners food security health home rehabilitation hygiene internally displaced Iraq Lebanon livelihoods local communities migrant workers prayer focus psychosocial support recovery refugees relief staff care Syria training winter assistance women

Read more

  • Basic needs
  • Beirut explosion
  • Context & Resources
  • Covid-19
  • Earthquakes
  • Education & protection
  • Livelihoods
  • Meet our friends
  • Meet our partners
  • Prayer focus
  • Quarterly highlights
  • They talk about us
  • Training and staff care

What we do

  • Basic needs
  • Education & child protection
  • Livelihoods

Meet our friends

  • Meet our partners
  • Meet our beneficiaries

Know more

  • Impact report
  • Blog
  • Child protection policy

Get involved

  • Pray
  • Donate
  • Raise awareness
© 2019 MERATH is the relief and community development arm of the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development (LSESD)