Lebanon: Aide to Syrian Refugee Children
This “Fratelli Project” provides important auxiliary educational services to refugee Syrian children enabling them to access and succeed in Lebanese schools.
The Fratelli Project is a cooperative program between the Marist and the De La Salle Christian Brothers to educationally serve displaced Syrian refugee children living in Lebanon. The program offers ten different educational and social programs particularly crafted for these Syrian youth. The program includes preparation for formalized education, tutoring assistance with school assignments, social programs, counseling programs to handle PTSD and other war-related issues, sensitization to different cultures, peaceful conflict resolution, and nutrition programs.
The Fratelli programs supplement and enhance the formal educational programs already offered by the Lebanese government. As such, it is a complete “wrap-around” program that enables Syrian students to enter the formal Lebanese program and succeed. Without this help, many students lack educational access, perform poorly, and drop out of the educational system. Migrant children without an education have an uncertain future, pose challenges to the host country’s social order, and tend to be recipients of social services rather than tax-paying contributors to them.