Refugee children from Syria living in Lebanon have many urgent needs. MECA provideds direct aid and helped our partner Al-Jalil Center start a school for 285 children in the town of Taalbaya. Most children from Syria are not attending because they are turned away from overcrowded local schools; the curriculum is so different they can’t catch up; or their families can’t afford even small school expenses. “Education for All” provides morning classes in reading, writing, English, math and computer use. Children who are attending local schools receive tutoring in the afternoon.

Refugee children from Syria living in Lebanon have many urgent needs. MECA provideds direct aid and helped our partner Al-Jalil Center start a school for 285 children in the town of Taalbaya. Most children from Syria are not attending because they are turned away from overcrowded local schools; the curriculum is so different they can’t catch up; or their families can’t afford even small school expenses. “Education for All” provides morning classes in reading, writing, English, math and computer use. Children who are attending local schools receive tutoring in the afternoon. All the children go on field trips, get psychological support, attend special workshops, and celebrate special occasions together with children from the local area.

“We carried our bodies tired and hungry through the darkness of the night to the city of Damascus, and from there to the Lebanese border. Today we are in one room, kitchen and bathroom, all of us, my mother and father and me and four brothers and sisters. We can’t go to school because of my father’s inability to pay for school bus transportation.”

—Yamen, age 11