Child sponsorship update from Bhersaf, Lebanon

Sponsor's update for child sponsors from the SOS Children's Village Bhersaf, Lebanon from Summer 2008.

It is time to give you recent information about the teaching and educational work with our children living at SOS Children’s Village - Bhersaf.

Currently 82 children live in 12 SOS family houses. The five youngest one are happy to go to the neighbourhood nursery where they participate to various interesting activities to develop their creativity and their learning abilities. 77 children go to 5 different schools that are located in the vicinity. When choosing a school to our children, we take into consideration the personality of the child and the educational environment that suits him/her the best. A particular attention is given to make sure that the child is receiving the appropriate educational support according to his/her capability. For weak students, a special and appropriate follow-up is done to try to get them to the right level.

In our teaching meetings on the national and village level, we have taken an uncompromising commitment to Child Protection Policy (CPP) and Children’s rights in the SOS strategic plan and the SOS every day work. The following recommendations were made :
- List of activities no child should be deprived of AND List of activities, he/she can choose not to participate. The lists are suggested by the children themselves
- Determine the difference between being punished and being held responsible
- Arrange discussion sessions with the children aiming at defining a process to determine the means of reporting and responding
- Work together on a child friendly protection policy
We are also committed to do the necessary lobbying with external partners on these two vital topics, CPP and UN Convention on Children’s Rights.

We continuously seek to enhance our SOS teaching work. In this context, and after fruitful and productive discussions, we updated and approved the final drafts on the following subjects:
- SOS Mother’s Application Form
- Practical Training Manual for SOS Mothers - the first three months
- Individual Child Development Project

Children's activities in Lebanon

As you already know, organising interesting activities to our children is always our main concern. In Lebanon, we celebrate “Teachers’ day” on the first Friday of March. For this special day, our youngest children prepared a surprise for their teacher. With their SOS mothers’ help, they composed a short poem for this particular occasion. The words express their love and gratitude. As a gift, they made a beautiful painting “ a bouquet of wild flowers” with their first name written on the petals. As for the eldest ones, they invented various funny sketches about their every day life at school. They were very creative and the teachers were very pleased with their good performance .

Our children were invited to the basketball match between their favourite team “Sagesse” and the other team “Champville”. They were so excited when wearing their green T-Shirt with “Sagesse” logo on. Moreover they were so happy to be sit in the best part of the stadium next to the VIP section. The game was as expected, enthusiastic and thrilling, and the point gap was only two points but unluckily in favor of “Champville”. Although they were rather disappointed, our children were proud to tell their friends at school that they have followed the match “live”.

Another interesting social event was the visit to the American University that was founded in 1866. It is one of the largest universities that offers academic programs for undergraduate, graduate, medical, and professional education. It is a major university with over 7.000 students located on a 73-acre campus, with a total of 80 buildings, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. SOS Teenagers were invited by the alumni to spend a day on the campus. In the morning, they went in a guided campus tour. It includes athletic fields, private beach, bird sanctuary as well as four libraries, the computer labs, the Archaeological Museum, the Natural Museum…. Pamphlets and booklets about the university were distributed. After lunch, a “rally-paper” was organized.

We are aware that the path for a peaceful and democratic Lebanon will still take some time but with the election of a new Lebanese President, there is a great light of hope. We are looking forward to realize all the summer-planned activities. Our children will be participating in summer camp and community events as well as going to the beach and continuing their regular occupations.

Before ending the report, we would like to express our appreciation for your personal commitment that is so significant. You truly do a wonderful thing by making a positive difference in the life of children living at SOS Children’s Village - Bhersaf. We wish you a great summertime.