With 1,500 members spread across 20 chapters, the organization today supports 430 young Lebanese people, 330 of whom are in Lebanon and 100 abroad, as explained by Zeina Farhat, director of “LIFE” Generation. Operating for almost fifteen years, the organization first established partnerships with the Saint Joseph University of Beirut (USJ), the Lebanese-American University (LAU) and the American University of Beirut (AUB). Since 2019, it has expanded its network to include Balamand, the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK), the Notre-Dame University of Louaïzé (NDU), the Antonine University (UA) as well as the Higher School of Business (ESA). “Of the 330 students residing in Lebanon, we identified around fifty in risk areas, coming from South Lebanon, the southern suburbs, Bekaa or even Akkar, among whom 40 to 50% were displaced. They lived not in shelters, but with family members or friends, or rented apartments,” continues Zeina Farhat. “The team had one-on-one calls with each of them, offering additional help, asking them what their needs were and what kind of help we could provide,” she added. But beyond the material aspect of providing aid, such as the distribution of Internet boxes to those who need them, the organization sought to create a personalized “one-to-one” link, to establish a spirit of “supportive community” which allows everyone to ask for help. Both in Lebanon and abroad. In fact, at the same time, mentors made contact with scholarship students abroad. Far from their loved ones, the latter are also suffering the war. Not only are they worried about their families and don’t even know if they will be able to return to the country for the Christmas holidays, they sometimes face an additional financial and economic problem, as Frédérique Akatchérian Chemali states. , director of “LIFE”.
Zeina Farhat, director of « Life » Generation. PhotosLife
“They have even more problems because some parents can no longer pay for their studies, they work less while others are afraid of losing their jobs. We are at a point where we were already struggling, and we fear that the situation will get worse,” she says. “LIFE” has also been active on the emotional well-being and health front. mental. Teaming up with Siira, a mental health platform, it launched meetings every two weeks targeting the 330 students in the country, with the aim of dialoguing with them, allowing them to share their experiences and their feelings, and providing them with comfort and emotional help. In addition to its support for education, the organization attaches particular importance to the employability of its scholarship holders, as Frédérique Chemali wishes to point out, by equipping them and offering them tailor-made support for their careers. , as well as coaching sessions and workshops led free of charge by its members to maximize their success in the job market. If for the moment “LIFE” has urgently mobilized among the entire Lebanese diaspora to help NGOs currently operating in the field, particularly in the field of education, the association plans to provide support in the near future for “more structured projects” which would allow more than 400,000 displaced children to return to the path of ‘school. “Through education, we seek to support all of Lebanon,” concluded Zeina Farhat.
M.A.K.
With 1,500 members spread across 20 chapters, the organization today supports 430 young Lebanese people, 330 of whom are in Lebanon and 100 abroad, as explained by Zeina Farhat, director of “LIFE” Generation. Operating for almost fifteen years, the organization first established partnerships with the Saint-Joseph University of…
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