MEET PASTOR MILAD

“Yesterday was the first day of school. The students are really excited. They returned with an extra burst of energy. We spent the first day helping them calm down and get settled, then divided them into their classrooms.

The idea for the center came about 10 years ago, when we kept seeing kids on the street and playing in the dirt. We used to visit the refugee camps and see children walking bare feet, their skin blue from the cold. So, as a church, we thought of establishing an educational center to help them escape the difficult environment they were living in. 

This year, most of the kids who were enrolled before have come back, and we’ve taken in some new kids. About 10 families left because of the war. Some had returned to Syria, while others relocated within Lebanon. The total number of enrolled students reached 180 this year. Till now, some parents who have heard about the school are coming to enroll their children, but we don’t have any more space. 

The new children are from our area. They’ve been on the waiting list. So, we contacted them and gave priority to siblings of children already enrolled at the center, because some of them are older now and we can finally receive them. Some of the new children who registered this year haven’t been to school before. We’re trying to set up a separate class for them with children who are close to them in age. We don’t want to put them with the younger kids because they’re physically bigger. So, we’re running into some challenges. But we face this every year, and we’re used to it by now. In the end, they all adapt to the center’s environment, and everything works fine. 

Last year, we started with 135 students because of the war. When we started the academic year, the war had already begun. We started the academic year late, and it wasn’t easy. Sometimes we’d hear bombings, and other times surveillance drones would be flying overhead. 

We hope that the security situation remains good. Our biggest challenge is keeping the center open without having to close it, because here in the Beqaa, we’re vulnerable to shelling when the situation escalates. If there are any security threats, our priority is making sure the kids stay safe, so they don’t get hurt, because last year three of our kids were injured at the camp, and that was really tough. One of them was taken to Syria and treated there, but he’s now doing well. 

So far, things have been going very well. All the teachers, students, and parents are excited and we’re happy that the atmosphere is good. We hope it stays like this, and we do not have to close the center and shift to online learning. When we tried online learning during COVID-19, and recently during the war, it was really hard because of the situation in the camps. In one small tent, many kids, a mother, and a father may all be living together, and they need internet and a computer, which makes online learning really hard. We still did our best and recorded the lessons and sent them out, but it is never the best option. 

The economic situation is very challenging for families. Food, fuel, and everything else is getting more and more expensive. There’s definitely a major crisis here, and we’re afraid of facing a serious challenge. If we do not support the families of children enrolled at the center with aid, they might have to send their kids to work, and we don’t want that to happen. 

Last year, most students stayed with us until the end of the year because we helped the families as much as we could. The families were very happy, and it also gave us an extra opportunity to reach out to the parents directly, meet them, hear about their situations, and offer them some encouragement.  

We’ve seen a radical change in the children, when it comes to respect for others, discipline, or even personal hygiene. But most importantly, the children are learning. They are learning English, Arabic, math, and science. They’re learning ethics and good manners, their personalities are changing, and their parents are noticing a huge difference.

We genuinely love the children, we teach them, and we respect them. Here, every child feels that he is a human being with dignity, and the kids have been wonderful too. That’s how important the center is. It has made a difference in the lives of these children.“