On Monday October 17, 2022, on the occasion of the third anniversary of the popular uprising, the French association Change Lebanon, which fights for the rule of law in Lebanon, organized an event at the Arab World Institute (IMA) in favor of children in Lebanon, under the auspices of Mr. Jack Lang President of the IMA. Madam French Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul-Malak, of Lebanese origin, honored us with her presence and gave a speech.
The event, which was supported by the France-Lebanon Endowment Fund guaranteeing the transparency and efficiency of the project, was organized in partnership with the Lebanese NGO Beit el Baraka the company Murex and theAssociation Liban Avenir Meilleur in Switzerland (ALAM).
The starred chef Alan Geaam who was present at the event, signed the dinner.
Many donors, companies, foundations and private individuals have responded to the appeal. We thank them very much!
The funds raised will be used to address two critical and urgent needs that affect infants and children in Lebanon, who have been devastated first by the multiple crises that have hit Lebanon: the back to school for students and the and the distribution of powdered infant milk..
Schooling
The Lebanese educational sector urgently needs to be saved!
Once the spearhead of academic excellence, education, both in private and public schools, is being undermined by the inability of parents to pay their children’s school fees and the mass exodus of teachers.
With the economic crisis and the explosions of August 4, 2020, many parents have lost their jobs and more than 400,000 students are now out of school in Lebanon. Many even have to work to help their families meet their basic needs. This has serious repercussions on future generations, the spearhead of the country’s future and the hope of the nation’s reconstruction and prosperity, and mortgages, for years to come, the return to a dignified and respectful life.
The educational program
Forsa,
supported by Beit El Baraka and Murex, aims to put 32,000 students back in school in 113 French-speaking schools by the end of 2022.
Infant milk powder
The shortage must be overcome!
The economic crisis has had devastating effects on chronically malnourished babies: soaring prices no longer allow the purchase of powdered milk. Today, 70,000 children do not have access to powdered infant milk.
With the synergy of 11 actors, including Beit el Baraka and the France-Lebanon Endowment Fund, Change Lebanon has already delivered 86,000 boxes of infant milk powder in July 2021, distributed to the most needy families across the country.
The funds raised will serve this same purpose, as the shortage persists and infants and young children do not have this vital food for their health and well-being.
The education of school-age children and the feeding of babies are fundamental human rights, crucial to enable citizens to succeed individually and collectively and to build tomorrow a Lebanon governed by the rule of law with healthy, educated citizens.
The urgent need to provide schooling for children and food for babies are markers of a failed country, which no longer fulfills its basic duties to its citizens and which has continually allowed the foundations of the nation to crumble.
We can only firmly denounce the blindness, the cynicism and the immobilism of the Lebanese political and financial leaders who, for years, have only conceived their mission as being above all to enrich themselves at the expense of the State and the population, by redistributing a few crumbs to their obliged and by leaving in misery and despair the immense majority of their fellow-citizens, more particularly the children
Through this action, the Lebanese in the Diaspora express their solidarity with the Lebanese in Lebanon and reiterate their willingness to remain mobilized, without fail, in order to bring about a radical change capable of making the country rise from its ashes. That day will come!
This solidarity illustrates the strong ties, to which Change Lebanon is very attached, between France and Lebanon. It cannot be said enough that France is and will remain the country that gives the most aid to Lebanon and the Lebanese, aid that will never be forgotten.
A huge thank you to all the generous donors who have mobilised for Lebanon, especially for its children whose lives and education are threatened.
