There've been a few hiccups, BUT I am finally in The Land of Cedars. The "Paris of the Middle East". Home of potentially the best food man has ever invented. Um, and in case this is still too vague: I'm in Lebanon. Thursday, November 27th, I arrived in Baabdat, Lebanon to volunteer with two organizations: Dorcas Aid International and Triumphant Mercy (a Lebanese NGO). Both of these organizations are primarily working with Syrian, and now Iraqi refugees. My hope is that a longterm job in this field will come out of this opportunity- an exciting prospect! I've wanted to work in cross- cultural community development ever since I was about 12 (after reading "Star of Light" by Patricia St. John, probably the kind of book that no one's heard of). What Does the Volunteering Entail? It sounds like I will be doing a combination of social work, administration, and teaching. TM works in community development, and one of their main focuses is on starting literacy programs for Syrian children who haven't received any education over the past 3+ years. TM currently has two literacy programs running in refugee camps, and I will be involved in helping them start a third program for children. DAI's work in Lebanon is mostly relief-oriented. They care for 170 Syrian families a month, most of whom enter Lebanon with close to nothing. DAI conducts daily home/tent assessments, distributes food and non-food items (such as blankets, heaters, mattresses, hygiene kits), and cross checks names with other NGO's to make sure that these NFI's are being distributed fairly amongst newcomers. I get to join the social work team in carrying out this work. Would you like to be involved? I'm thrilled to share this journey with you all, and I hope that as I learn more about the current situation(s) in the ME, I can shed some light on it for you as well. Lebanon is a dynamic and volatile country (one that everyone in the region seems to want a piece of) so I'm expecting it will be quite the learning experience. So here comes the big question: Would you like to partner with me in this experience? Would you be interested in supporting me financially to be in Lebanon for those initial 3-6 months? I would be honored. If you are indeed interested, you can give financially in one of two ways:
And thus concludes my first post! In future my primary mode of communication will be via blog/vlog/photos on this website. I would so appreciate your thoughts and prayers. Love and blessings to you all, Nadine P.S: Have any questions for me about all this? Feel free to comment on this post or contact me directly (via clicking on the envelope symbol under the menu tabs). |