This year is different. Muslims and Christians are fasting together. For Muslims, the holy month of Ramadan started last Saturday. Oriental Christians started Lent last Monday. Western Christians are starting today. Furthermore, Catholic and Orthodox Easter will fall on the same day. What a wonderful moment of unity in a divided world! The liberation of Syria from more than 54 years of dictatorship and war is followed by this special time of grace, of repentance, of purification.

With our association, we have been waiting for over twelve years for this moment to come, not always patiently. In our first Peace Centre, we have brought thousands of people together, Syrians, Lebanese and foreigners as well as Muslims, Christians, Jews and persons of other conviction and belief. We have been working tirelessly to build a better future for the youth. In our learning centres, more than 3,500 children have received daily education. Many of our students are now in university. The youth we serve has established an inter-religious youth network.

Today, we are asking for your help again to take the next step together. We wish to continue our work in the poorest region of Lebanon, but we also wish to accompany our students home to Syria. We need at least 20,000 € to open new peace centres in Lebanon and Syria. Please read more below!

After more than twelve years, our first Peace Centre is going to move to Qantara, a beautiful village in Akkar, Lebanon, just across the river from our first location. We just signed the contract for 10 years of rent at a stable price of only $150/month. However, the beautiful house we found needs to be renovated, as you can see on the picture above. We estimate that the renovation will cost us about $5,000 to make the place inhabitable for our students and international volunteers.

"Qantara" means "arch" in Arabic. And the name of the village couldn't be better! It is the only village of the whole region where all communities live together in the same space: Sunni and Alawite Muslims as well as Maronite and Orthodox Christians. The village has never had any trouble during the years of Lebanese Civil War and during the brutal oppression of the Syrian Revolution. There is a tacit agreement that the position of the mayor will always alternate between Christians and Muslims. All local communities have welcomed us with open arms.

We wish to continue our work in Bkarzla and all locations of Akkar where we have established learning centres and youth clubs. With the new Peace Centre in Qantara, we are reducing our rental costs tremendously, which will allow us both to maintain our classes in Lebanon and expand our work in Syria.

Since the very beginning of our work, we have delivered life-saving humanitarian aid inside Syria. We have been supporting informal groups in rebel-controlled areas to bring food, shelter and education to the youth. However, we had not been able to open a Peace Centre inside Syria, like we did in Lebanon: an open house where international volunteers live the values of spiritual solidarity and help to build bridges of understanding between different communities. Before the victory of the Syrian Revolution, foreigners were either forced to collaborate with the Assad regime or to live under constant risk of shelling, kidnapping or other harm.

But things are changing quickly. The liberation of Syria opens new avenues of justice, peace and prosperity. Our international staff members have visited Syria over the last weeks, together with our Syrian friends. We were welcomed by families of our former students who have already resettled. As you could read in our previous post, most of our students come from the town of Qusayr in the Homs Governorate of Syria, next to the Lebanese border. We have also supported local groups from Kafranbel in the Idlib Governorate, as well as from Yabrud and Eastern Ghouta in the Rif Damascus Governorate. The needs are tremendous, but the hope is even bigger. We witnessed a spirit of solidarity, shaping the future together.

All the families we met wish us to open new peace centres next to their home. We started to identity potential locations and we reached out to religious leaders of these areas to form regional steering committees, in line with our tested methodology. We wish to support different communities to come together and work together for the sake of a better future for the Syrian youth.

We cannot say often enough how grateful we are for all the support our donors and volunteers have given to us. We are relying mainly on private small donations for staying independent from government interests and for ensuring the sustainability of our work. Especially in the fields of peacebuilding and education, short-term projects do often more harm than good. We prefer a long-term approach, growing up with the children we serve. We could not have done it without you!

At this decisive moment of our journey, we humbly ask you to renew your help. We still have not covered all financial needs for the current school year, but we also wish to move into Syria. This is a flexible call for help. €20,000 will allow us to equip the new Peace Centre in Akkar and start a second Peace Centre in the Homs Governorate of Syria. Every €10,000 more will allow us to open centres in one more region.

Please spread the word and consider making a donation today, as sign of solidarity and unity between Jews, Christians, Muslims and all persons of good will. In these challenging times, we need these seeds of hope and peace more than ever! We'd like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Kinan Azmeh and CityBand will be coming to Brussels for a charity concert for Syria and Lebanon in the splendid Salle des Caryatides of the Cercle Royal Gaulois, presenting their new album “Live in Berlin” released on Feb 28 2025. Join us for this unforgettable evening in solidarity with the Syrian people!

The income from ticket sales and donations collected at this concert will 100% go to the border. region of Lebanon and Syria where we serve Syrian refugees and young Lebanese in their struggle for a better future. Please click below for more information and to reserve your tickets!

Kinan was born in Damascus in 1976 and trained at the famous Juilliard School in New York. He has been accompanied by top-tier ensembles such as the New York Philharmonics and Daniel Barenboim’s West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. In recent years, he has devoted himself to his own artistic creation at the crossroads of contemporary classics, oriental and jazz. His first opera “Songs for Days to Come”, fully sung in Arabic, was recently premiered in Osnabrück, Germany to great acclaim. Back home in the US, he has been appointed to the National Council for the Arts on a nomination by President Joe Biden.

For this extraordinary concert during his Europe tour, Kinan will perform in the Caryatides Ballroom at the Cercle Royal Gaulois in Brussels. Located at the heart of the Royal Park, the Cercle is one of the most venerable institutions of Belgium, which dates back to two distinguished groups of intellectuals established in 1847 and 1911, which merged in 1919 to become the Cercle Gaulois. The Caryatids Ballroom is a masterpiece of Brussels neoclassical architecture, dating from 1821. Two musicians’ loggias dominate the room, which is embellished with caryatids sculpted by the famed artist François Rude. It will be the perfect venue for this encounter between East and West.

What a night! We are looking back on 8 December 2024, the Day of Liberation of Syria from more than 54 years of dictatorship under the Assad regime. In Akkar, the region of our Peace Centre in the far north of Lebanon, thousands poured into the streets and unfurled the Free Syrian banners that had been hidden for so many years. Our Syrian youth leaders shared their joy on social media and organised celebrations in our centres. One can hardly imagine the emotions after years of hardship, often without official status or legal protection, in the camps of Lebanon.

Our association will stand in solidarity with all those we serve -Lebanese and Syrians- regardless of their background or beliefs. Most of our Syrian staff members and volunteers have returned to Syria for their first visit. We have also conducted a survey among the families of our students to learn more about their plans and intentions. It appears that 23% of them have already resettled permanently. Many more wish to return within the coming year, but their homes are still destroyed.

Please read more below to learn about the detailed results of our survey. The results are very relevant for the future orientation of our work.

About half of our students in the Akkar region of Lebanon are Lebanese, the other half Syrians. Amongst the 407 Syrian students currently inscribed in the R&R learning centres, 313 replied to our flash survey via WhatsApp. 23% reported that their families have already resettled to Syria within the first two months after the fall of the Assad regime. 63% more wish to return as soon as possible, about half of them within the coming months (29% of all respondents) and the other half after the end of the year. Only 14% are saying that their families don't want to return at all.

The most important reason for delays in the return plans is the housing situation in Syria. 70% of all respondents amongst our Syrian students in Lebanon were telling us that their old house or apartment is completely destroyed. Another 16% said that their house was partially destroyed. 8% didn't own a house and only 6% said that their house is still standing. In the current situation, with a huge amount of debt and family income that is hardly covering the survival minimum, most families cannot afford the reconstruction of their homes. Many of them have been asking for help.

We will keep you updated on our assessments and plans for the future. We hope to accompany the families of our students to Syria and expand our work there. Most of our Syrian students come originally from the Homs Governorate. Within the Homs Governorate, the city of Qusayr is the municipality from where the highest number of our students had been expelled. Qusayr is also the city in which our mentor and co-founder, Father Paolo Dall'Oglio, had been fasting for reconciliation in 2012, just before his expulsion from Syria by the Assad regime.

Our work in Lebanon will continue, with Lebanese students and all others in need, but we wish to open new Peace Centres inside Syria. We don’t yet know what the future holds, but we are certain that the fall of the Assad regime brings new hope to millions. After the victory of the Syrian Revolution, it is now time for justice and peace.

Please support our work with a generous donation! We are relying on your help to continue our work for relief and reconciliation in Syria.

For over a decade, Relief & Reconciliation (R&R) has been working at the intersection of peacebuilding and humanitarian aid, offering hope to Syrian refugees and vulnerable Lebanese communities in the Akkar Governorate of Lebanon. Our mission remains steadfast: to provide continuous education as a means of fostering social cohesion and empowering the next generation.

The school year 2024/25 has started in harsher conditions than ever. The bombing of Lebanon by Israel, following the attacks of Hamas and Hezbollah on 7 October 2023, has not spared our region, even though no attacks have been launched from here. Our Peace Centre and most public schools were sheltering internally displaced persons from the South of Lebanon. Several shelters were bombed.

As a consequence, the school year 2024/25 started with huge delays: regular morning shifts in public schools were launched in November and the supplementary afternoon shifts for Syrian refugee children only in January. Despite all these challenges, classes in the 3 permanent educational centres of R&R were running from day one of the school year. We didn't wait for the afternoon shifts to start.

Our continuous educational work, uninterrupted for more than 11 years, is only funded by your donations. Please read more below about our plans and needs!

The results from our last evaluation and assessment survey were overwhelming. Even though Akkar remains the poorest region of Lebanon, it has one of the highest school enrolment rates for Syrian refugees. According to UN data from all Lebanon, 57% of Syrian children aged 6-11 were enrolled in primary schools. In Akkar, however, the percentage rises to 64%. The percentage is even higher amongst Syrian children in the areas R&R is working in where 84% of the respondents to our representative survey, aged 6-11, were enrolled in primary school.

In the last school year 2023/24, we also had a positive impact on the success rate of the 503 students who attended daily R&R classes. Among those who attended formal education (either public or private school), R&R students had the highest success rate, with 85% successfully passing the school year (of which 50.7% were boys and 49.3% girls). Students attending educational support classes with other NGOs in the area of our work, funded by UNICEF or other public grants, had a success rate of 78%. Some students came to both R&R and to other NGOs: their success rate was 84%. Those who didn't attend any support classes, neither from R&R nor from other NGOs, had the lowest success rate at only 72%.

We are humbly asking to continue your support for the sake of Syrian and Lebanese children in Akkar, the poorest region of Lebanon. Our classes are up and running. We need to raise at least 50,000 € to cover the costs of the school year 2024/25. Your support will allow more than 500 children to receive daily education, either as basic literacy and numeracy classes (BLN) for those not enrolled in school, or as school support classes for those enrolled or as vocational and technical education (VTE) for those beyond the age range for school enrolment.

But education is not just about individual learning, it is a tool for peace. By bringing together Syrian and Lebanese youth in shared learning spaces, we foster dialogue and understanding. Our work engages parents, teachers, and civil society actors to create a truly inclusive environment where young people can thrive. Our regional Steering Committee, composed by moral authorities of both Christian and Muslim communities, oversees the choice of our centres. And at each of our 3 permanent learning centres, we elect every year a Parents' Committee that is deciding about the classes to be offered, within the limits of our projected budget. Also our youth leaders are now electing a Leadership Committee for each location.

All this would be impossible without your help. We are deliberately relying on your donations, instead of big governmental grants for a huge project that only lasts a year. Your support helps us to remain independent and sustainable. Without the continuous support of our donors from around the world, we would not have brought more than a dozen of Syrian refugee children into Lebanese universities. Education is a marathon, not a sprint. We plead with you to renew your support and forward this call to your family and friends. 10 € are enough to keep one child in school for a month.

Please share the word and support our work with a donation, either a small amount every month or a bigger aid package once in a while!

Clicking on the icons below, you can download the our educational needs assessment and the detailed call for educational funding in the Akkar Governorate of Lebanon for the school year 2024/25:

Our team in the northern border region of Lebanon is raising red flags with regard to the protection of minors during this time of war. We have been witnessing a sharp increase in different forms of abuse, both in the private and public space. Our biggest reason of concern: the total neglect for the fate of Syrian refugee children who seem too often to be considered as "dispensable" during the current hostilities. Lebanon's public authorities are often involved in the abuse.

The most shocking cases were two of our former students in the Akkar Governorate, one twelve years of age, the other fourteen, who were wrongfully accused of crimes by their Lebanese neighbours. Both were Syrians with legally valid residence permits. Both of them were held in jail for several months in terrible conditions, without regular food or visits. Both were cleared by the judges from any wrong-doing. Still, they were only allowed to leave jail having paid a bail. Please click below for finding our press release and further details about these cases!

Not only Syrian refugee children are victim of abuse and neglect during these times of war and displacement. Also Lebanese have less and less access to education and are more and more pushed into child labour or child marriage. In the sections below, we are documenting some alarming cases. Ahead of 20 November, the World Children's Day, we are trying to build a coalition of human rights organisations and like-minded NGOs for raising awareness and advocating better protection.

The case of Yacoub, 14 years of age: an innocent child detained in different prisons for more than six months. He was accused by a Lebanese neighbour to have stolen his motorcycle, beaten up and delivered to General Security. General Security transferred him to the Police detention centre in Aarida, from where he was further transferred to Machta Hassan, then to Batroun and finally to Roumieh prison. He was acquitted by a judge first on 5 June 2024 and then again on 16 October 2024. Still, he has not yet been liberated. Roumieh prison claimed missing paperwork, lost by the first detention centres. Finally, they recognised a copy sent by the police. But yet, he was transferred back to General Security's prison in Beirut where more paperwork is waiting for him to be released. His mother is missing him since May.
 
Omar, 15 years old, dropped out of school and run away from his family. After several days, the boy reconciled with his family, but he continued to sleep in the garage a Lebanese man had offered him. This was due to the Lebanese man’s promise to help him find work and earn money — a form of exploitation. One day, the neighbor took the boy to help him install doors in an apartment that was still under construction. The police arrived and arrested both of them because a theft had been reported nearby. The Lebanese man convinced the boy to take the blame for the case alone, promising that he would help him with the necessary procedures for his release. The man was released thanks to "connections," while the boy remained detained in Batroun, without legal representation. The lawyer assigned to the boy neglected the case, as she was involved in a romantic relationship with someone in Saudi Arabia, and she ran away to be with him, abandoning the case without any follow-up. Omar has been in jail now for more than 10 months without a due trial.

Several other cases have been brought to our attention. With the deepening economic crisis and the Israeli war against Lebanon, Syrian refugees have lost much of what legal protection they had. The decision of their return to Syria is not ours to take, but we strongly condemn this abuse of children in the legal system, all of which are a violation of Lebanese law and of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was signed and ratified by Lebanon.

Child Labour is not only a problem in the Akkar Governorate. However, since the start of the economic crisis in 2019 and the new war against Lebanon in this year, the problem has become endemic. No construction site without minors, no harvesting and hardly a shop that doesn't have several children as errant boys. Even though worse forms of abuse exist, the stories of some of the children we serve are heart-breaking. We demand the extension of social assistance to children and to vulnerable families that do not have an adult member who can work.

Hanan (14 years old), Mohammad (12 years old), and Yahya (9 years old) are currently living in a tent. Their father, who sustained injuries to his leg and back, has been unable to work. As a result, the children have been responsible for generating income for the family. However, due to their young age, they are unable to find decent work. Instead, they are selling sweets on the street. Although their mother has enrolled them in our education programme for this year, it appears more likely that she will prioritise sending them to work rather than to school. We meet them regularly, even late at night, in front of the supermarket in Halba, on the main highway of Akkar, where many unknown persons are passing through.

Ahmad* (*name changed), a 15-year-old Syrian boy, lives with his mother and three siblings, was left to support the family alone after his father remarried and abandoned them. His day begins with an eight-hour shift harvesting olives from 6am to 2pm. After a brief rest, he starts a gruelling twelve-hour night shift at a highway coffee shop. This relentless schedule is taking a toll on his health, but he shrugs, “That’s just life; we thank God for everything.” Ahmad* once attended our homework help sessions, but now we only catch brief glimpses of him, rushing between jobs. He keeps up a good spirit, but the $260 he earns per month in the harvest season can barely cover the rent and the basic living costs of his family.

Mina* (*name changed), 11 years old and from a Lebanese middle-class family, once lived in Nabatiyeh. After the start of the Israeli bombings and ground invasion in the South, her family fled northward and now resides in a temporary shelter in Akkar. Just days after their departure, a missile struck near their home, destroying her bedroom and living room. Mina was previously enrolled in a public school with English curriculum, but in the Akkar Governorate, only the French curriculum is taught in public schools. Her family is now waiting to enrol her in a private school with online classes, despite the financial strain and the subpar quality of remote learning.

Assel (9), Nada (8), and Mohammed (6) are among the best students at R&R’s Kousha Centre, where they’ve been consistently attending homework help for the past year. As they await the opening of second-shift registrations in the public school system, the siblings are now participating in the informal classes currently offered at the centre. Their mother expresses appreciation for our teachers, recognising that this interim support allows her children to stay engaged and make steady progress. Their case reflects the situation of thousands of Syrian children, who for the time being remain on the margins of formal education.

The Lebanese government and international donors must act now to prevent another educational catastrophe! All children have the right to primary and also secondary education, non-regarding of their nationality. The R&R team on the ground is working day and night to provide emergency relief and education to those who cannot attend school, but we need the state and the international community to do their part to keep schools open and safe. Targeting school buildings that are used for teaching or for sheltering displaced persons is a war crime.

Please help us to spread the word and build a coalition of civil society organisations to denounce these violations of fundamental children's rights!

Follow us on social media for more updates and contact us if you wish to become a member or volunteer for our campaign!

War has returned to Lebanon. We are living today with the constant sound of drones and planes in the sky that can strike at any moment. From the first day of the war, we have opened the doors of our Peace Centre and our other educational centres to those who had to flee the fighting in the South. Today, we need your help to provide emergency aid and continue the care for the children we serve.

Fortunately, the region of our Peace Centre has remained relatively calm. The Akkar Governorate in the utmost north of Lebanon does not have a significant Hezbollah presence and is not a main target. This does not mean, however, that we are entirely spared. Particular houses and cars have also been bombed, and the transportation from and to Beirut is not without risk. But still, Akkar has become a sanctuary for families from the South of Lebanon and Bekaa whose houses have been destroyed. In Akkar alone, more than 70,000 internally displaced persons have arrived, adding a huge burden to the 220,000 original Lebanese inhabitants, who have already welcomed more than 150,000 Syrian and Palestinian refugees.

We need at least 9,100 € to provide emergency aid to the families who had to flee. The needs are crushing, and we can easily extend our services beyond this amount. But 9,100 € will allow us to provide for emergency shelter and daily care for displaced children in our learning centres and in public schools of our area. Please read more below for further details about how we are going to use these emergency funds and please share this call with your families and friends! 

Our NGO has been working for more than 11 years in the Akkar Governorate of Lebanon, without missing one single school day. We have helped to enroll more than 3,200 Syrian refugee children in public schools of Lebanon. We have provided emergency aid to more than 11,000 individuals. Most of our activities have been funded by private small donations. This allowed us to keep our independence and our sustainability. We are doing more than a one-drop aid delivery.

In the current crisis, we opened our learning centres to families whose houses have been destroyed. At the main Peace Centre, our international volunteers are living under the same roof with seven families from Nabatiyeh. Also the Michmich centre is hosting four families. We were the first to open our doors. Now, more than 20 other families have found shelter in empty houses of our village, without paying any rent. And hundreds of more are living in public schools or the informal Syrian refugee camps.

Following the initiative of our youth leaders from Michmich, three of our scout teams are now engaged to provide psycho-social services to displaced children who have to live in public schools of our area. Our scout leaders have been trained by professional sport educators and psychologists. Having received the proper papers by governmental authorities, they are now visiting three public schools per week to provide for a 3-hours sports, games & music session, accompanied by specific art therapy for children with PTSD syndromes or other difficulties.

All of these activities are born from the initiative of our teams on the ground. Today, they need your support to keep going. Our work is not in the headlines of international news, but we are trying to cope with the consequences of a war that has gone beyond anything Lebanon has seen in the past. We wish to provide more emergency assistance, continue the child animation sessions in public schools and start informal school classes for children who have not yet started their school year. Please find below a detailed breakdown of our needs over the coming month:

Indicative budget for our emergency aid:

• EUR 1,500: mattresses, bed sheets, heating and other shelter equipment
• EUR 2,250: emergency food parcels for 90 families who lost their home
  
• EUR 2,800: materials and bus transportation for 12 child animation sessions
  
• EUR 2,560: fees for 320 teaching hours for out-of-school children
  

We give the guarantee that all donations received with the special mention "Shelter Emergency" will be used exclusively for the budget lines indicated above. We will do our utmost to fulfill all the planned activities, but we have to prioritise according to the amount of incoming donations. Please subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn to receive regular updates!

During the school year 2023/24, R&R extended its educational services to more than 500 children in Akkar, benefiting both Lebanese and Syrian students across the villages of Bkarzla, Kousha, Michmich, and Rahbe. As always, we began by working closely with the local community, listening to their needs and challenges, and tailored our programs to ensure that we address the diverse educational gaps that exist. By doing so, we were able to provide systemic support that responded specifically to the priorities of the families we served.

One of the significant challenges faced this year was the suspension of transportation aid by the UN, which left many unable to afford the daily cost of getting their children to school. R&R thus stepped in by offering bus services to and from public schools for those participating in specific educational activities. This critical intervention ensured that no child misses out on learning due to financial barriers.

Every day, morning and afternoon, we provided homework support to children in both the French and English curricula, ensuring they had the resources and guidance they need to succeed. This support is vital not only for those who struggle to keep up but for all students as Lebanese schools operate on a half-day schedule, leaving teachers with limited time to cover the syllabus in detail. Additionally, we offered Basic Literacy and Numeracy (BLN) classes for younger children, helping them build a strong foundation for their future learning.
 
Beyond basic education, we also expanded our English classes, offering different levels to accommodate students from beginner to advanced proficiency. These classes were invaluable in helping them gain confidence in another language, a skill that will serve well in both academic and professional settings. What’s more, like in the four previous years, we provided intensive Baccalaureate preparation classes, which saw every single participant passing their final exams - an incredible achievement that highlights the dedication of our students and the hard work of our teachers.

Recognising that education goes beyond the classroom, we reintroduced Computer literacy and Programming courses, equipping the participants with useful digital skills. Additionally, our Sewing lessons were brought back, with sewing machines made available during specific hours. These vocational training programs empower students, providing them with practical skills that can improve their future employment opportunities. Meanwhile, our Football training sessions continued to thrive, with three girls' teams and two boys' teams fostering discipline and teamwork.

Of course, none of these achievements would have been possible without the steadfast commitment of our volunteers, staff and local teachers. That very passion combined with the generosity of our donors, has allowed R&R to continue providing these essential services and making a tangible difference in the lives of the youth of Akkar, for over eleven years now, without missing one single school day.

The Holy Month of Ramadan is approaching and millions of Muslims around the world will be fasting during daylight before the welcome of family, friends and strangers to break the fast together at sunset. It is a special time of purification and hospitality, reducing consumption and giving the zakat of charity to the poor. This year, however, the breaking of the fast has a bitter aftertaste. How can we be joyful and eat when children are starving in Gaza, when tens of thousands have been killed?

We call upon all people of good will to join us this year in a Ramadan of Solidarity. Muslims, Christians, Jews and all people of good will shall be united in humanity and solidarity with all those who suffer. We are calling for a universal ceasefire during this holy month, in Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, Ukraine... and wherever the brutal force of war and oppression is killing other men, women and children. Our fast is a sign of our firm stance against all forms of violence and of our solidarity with the Muslim Ummah.

We are also calling for your generosity. The people we have served in the Idlib Governorate of Syria need our help more than ever. Living under the rule of Islamist militias, they have been depending very much on private Islamic charities from the Gulf area and from around the world. These private donations are today given to Gaza, for a good reason. But the people in Idlib, amongst them more than 3.5 million internally displaced by the bombs of the Assad regime, are left alone with the ruins of 13 years of war and oppression and the terrible earthquake that followed.

One year after the 7.8 earthquake of 6 February 2023, which killed more than 50,000 persons in the border region between Turkey and Syria, we planned on opening again the learning centre we had been running in the town of Salqin, in the Idlib Governorate of Syria, 5km from the Turkish border. But our local volunteers and staff members implored us to restart instead the distribution of food. There has been a sharp drop in donations to the Idlib Governorate and people are desperate to survive.

Like last year, we plan on distributing daily Ramadan meals to up to 3,000 persons in need. We need at least EUR 5,000 for providing warm meals to 100 different families every day during the 30 days of Ramadan. This means that one meal for a family of 6 persons in average will cost us about €1.67. It cannot be more cost-efficient! We will be taking turns to reach all vulnerable families of the area. Each family will receive at least one warm meal per week. This plan was designed by the local community without any involvement of armed groups or local authorities.

Please spread the word and please make a sign of solidarity and generosity! If you note the special mention "Ramadan of Solidarity" in the object line of your transfer, we guarantee that 100% of your donation will go for emergency food aid in Salqin. We will cover the low transaction costs from our general budget. We will post updates about the outcome of the campaign in the comments below.

Twelve years have passed since the beginning of the Syrian Revolution and the brutal suppression that followed. For the last ten years, we have done our utmost to cope with the consequences of the war Assad has been waging against his own people. At least 600,000 have been killed, about 200,000 of them civilians. More than 13 million had to flee their home. That is more than half of the country!

Children are the first victims of war and displacement, the most vulnerable. Over the last 10 years, we have been following our approach to unite different, and sometimes opposed, communities around a common cause: the future of the youth. We have provided daily education to more than 3,300 children, facilitating the enrollment of Syrian refugee children into Lebanese schools and preventing dropout for both Syrians and vulnerable Lebanese youth.

Today, like in the past, we need your help to keep going. Please read more below and share this post with your families and friends!

Also in this new school year 2023/24, we need a minimum of EUR 40,000 to keep our classes running. Like in the past, we are mainly relying on private small donations to fund our local teachers and local school transportation throughout the school year, from October 2023 till the end of June 2024. Up to 25 local teachers will be paid a modest but sufficient salary to dispatch classes for at least 500 children. This means that EUR 10 pay for about one month of education for one child.

The situation in Lebanon has become more difficult in recent weeks. After the Hamas attacks on Israel and the military onslaught on Gaza that followed, many Europeans and other foreign nationals have left Lebanon. The southern border is in flames. Thousands of Lebanese are displaced because of the open war between Hezbollah and Israel. Nobody we know wants a new war and many still have bitter memories from the war of 2006 when the Israeli Air Force bombed all Lebanon, non-regarding whether Hezbollah was in control of an area or not.

Now more than ever our work has to continue! Akkar is the poorest region of Lebanon. But thanks to your continuous support, we have a much higher school enrolment of Syrian refugee children than in the rest of Lebanon. According to the UN and to our own surveys, 80% of all school-aged children are enrolled. But the struggle for education is not over. We believe that no child should be left behind and we work hard to prevent school dropout because of economic hardship or difficulties with the French curriculum that is taught in most Lebanese schools.

With the support of all major communities of Akkar, Sunni and Alawite Muslims as well as Maronite and Orthodox Christians, both from Lebanon and Syria, we have brought different people to work together for a common goal: a better future of the youth that is marked by war, displacement and economic meltdown. And while learning and playing together, children and adolescent discover that the "other" can become a friend. None of this would be possible without the educational work of our local teachers, working in altogether five learning centres with our international volunteers.

On behalf of our teachers and on behalf of the children we serve, we are humbly asking for your support. We don't always find the time to update our website, as all our permanent staff members live and work in the Syrian border region. Therefore, we also rely on you to talk about our work and ask for help. One line you send to a relative or friend, sharing this post, can already bring one more child back into school. You can find more regular updates on Facebook or Instagram.

Please share the word and support our work with a donation, either a small amount every month or a bigger aid package once in a while!

Click here for our bank details and further instructions!

UPDATE: please click below to download the completed report or our educational needs assessment in the Akkar Governorate of Lebanon for 2023/24:

On 13 October 2022, youth leaders from 5 different locations came together with religious leaders of all major communities in Akkar to discuss and adopt a Children's Rights Charter they have drafted throughout the year. The endorsement by the main leaders of the Sunni Islamic Umma, the Greek-Orthodox Church, the Maronite Church and the Alawite Muslim community of Akkar meant a lot to the youth. It was a strong message of unity and solidarity in times of war and displacement.

Today, we are glad to present you the illustrated version of the charter that has been adopted by the unanimity of all 80 youth leaders. In several meetings and thanks to the help of an elected drafting committee amongst their members, the youth leaders agreed on a strong text with their demands for the future. Our Egyptian volunteer Menna illustrated the 8 chapters of the book with true stories that were collected together with the youth leaders. And in the introduction of each chapter, Friedrich, our secretary general, presents the results of a representative survey conducted by the youth leaders amongst more than 800 children of Akkar.

We would like to thank all youth leaders, both Lebanese and Syrians from all Muslim and Christian communities of the region, for their hard work. We also thank Sheikh Zayd Zakariya, the elected Mufti of Akkar, Saidna Basilius Mansour, Greek-Orthodox Archbishop of Akkar, Saidna Youssef Soueif, Maronite Archbishop of Tripoli, as well as Sheikh Hassan Hamed and Ustaz Ahmad Haddam, the elected representatives of the Alawite community in Akkar, for their support and their endorsement. Last but not least, we would like to thank GIZ and the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development to have funded this project.

If you follow the link below, you can download the book in low resolution. Please contact us if you wish to receive or reproduce it in printed form!

A week after the summer breeze settled in the mountains of Michmich, echoes of the “Fabulous Wizard Tournament” still linger. Guided by international volunteers, the camp transformed into a vibrant tapestry of laughter, riddles, and interreligious friendships. Youth leaders braved the mountain nights in Bedouin tents, while younger adventurers joined for sun-drenched days of discovery. The magic of Akkar’s highlands cast a spell that none of them will soon forget.

This is the story of Hiyam. She was the very first of all the children we have served to meet with Friedrich and the volunteers at the R&R Peace Centre. Back then, in May 2013, she was about to lose her arm because of a shrapnel from one of the bombs of the Syrian regime against the people of Qusayr, a small Syrian town that had dared to defy the reign of terror by Assad and his allies.

Today, Hiyam has achieved her high school graduation and is studying at Lebanese University, the only public university of the country. She wants to become a medical doctor to save the life of refugees and of any other person in need. She also works as an outreach volunteer with R&R for raising health awareness in the refugee camps and other rural areas of the Akkar region, in the utmost north of Lebanon.

Today, we are asking for your help again, because education cannot wait. We have more than 700 other students who depend on your generosity to pass their school year, midst in disaster and despair that surrounds us. Please click on the "Read More" link to learn about how you can make a difference in their lives!

The fight for the future of the forgotten youth on the Syrian border is not over. The earthquake was only the last disaster in a long list of catastrophes. Most students we serve have been expelled multiple times from their homes. In Syria, many schools have been destroyed. And in Lebanon, most public schools have been dysfunctional for several years. In this school year alone, public school teachers were on strike for more than half of the year, as their salaries had been devalued by hyper-inflation. A teacher who earned €1,500/month three years ago is only earning €30/month today. And that with living costs equivalent or even higher than in Europe.

Our learning  centres are the only opportunity for most of the 700 students we serve to receive any form of education. Those who could enroll in school are now facing the final exams of the year. 83 of our students are preparing for their high school graduation (Baccalauréat). Contrary to private schools, where most Lebanese children are enrolled, they have hardly received any school lessons over the last years. But they have to master the same centralised exams. In our learning centres, we have increased the tutoring hours with local qualified teachers to help them succeed. Only with official graduation, they can hope for higher studies.

We are still about €15,000 short for covering all the costs for our teaching activities in this school year, as detailed in the back-to-school campaign published in September 2022 (cf. below). Most of this money will go to our local teachers who are getting paid $7/hour, which is a good but still modest rate in comparison with public schools and other local employments. Our administrative and communication costs have been lower than 5% of all our funding, and we spent it mainly for local staff members. In total, the €15,000 will fund more than 1,800 teaching hours.

Please show your generosity and spread the word! We are relying on private small donations alone for providing our educational services, which have been running at our Peace Centre and the affiliated learning centres in Akkar for more than 10 years, without interruption. We are also re-launching classes in Idlib Province of Syria, which was hit hard by the earthquake of 6 February. Thanks to your help, we could provide emergency aid to more than 7,000 survivors in form of daily food distributions. Now, we are about to re-launch classes in a new informal camp school, midst in the Salqin refugee camps. Our classes are a beacon of hope for the children affected by war and destruction, children, like Hiyam, who cannot wait to build their own future.

Many persons and organisations have supported Hiyam to become what she is today: a strong and independent woman who is spreading hope all around her. It would not have been possible without her strong will and without your support.

PLEASE CLICK ON THE "DONATE" BUTTON FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT HOW TO CONTRIBUTE FROM ANY PART OF THE WORLD!

We need your urgent support to provide life-saving emergency aid to the families of our students in the city of Salqin, 5 km next to the Turkish-Syrian border, which has largely been destroyed in the 7.8 earthquake of last Monday, 6 February.

We need at least $25,000 for providing emergency shelters and warm meals for the families of our students who lost their home. There are no tents available in the area around Salqin, but our volunteers are building provisional brick houses and deliver warm meals. One brick house per family costs around $400. The ingredients for one warm meal per family cost between $5 and $8. Our volunteers also try to find as quickly as possible blankets, clothes and medical drugs. Whatever money arrives on our accounts will be transferred immediately to Salqin.

We give the guarantee that all funds received via our accounts that have the special mention "Earthquake" will go 100% to the families in Salqin. The emergency aid will be delivered through the volunteers of our Syrian branch on the ground. All overhead and transaction costs will be covered through our general budget. (Our overhead costs have been less than 1% since the very beginning of our work. The transaction costs are limited to a maximum of 2% thanks to the informal transfer systems used by our volunteers on the ground. We guarantee that none of these fees goes to terrorist organisations or war criminals that are sanctioned by the US or the EU.)

The deadly earthquake of Monday, 6 February, has hit some of the most vulnerable persons on earth in the Turkish-Syrian border region. This region is hosting most of the refugees and internally displaced of the Syrian war. The region of Syria most severely hit is the Idlib Province, which is mostly controlled by different militias opposed to the Assad regime, some of which are targeted by international sanctions as terrorist organisations. More than 4.5 inhabitants of this region, most of them internally displaced persons fleeing the oppression and the bombardments of the Assad regime, have been shelled every day by Assad's and Putin's forces. The earthquake has added catastrophe upon catastrophe.

In our first call for help, we asked all our donors and friends to make a contribution to the Syria Civil Defence, better known as "the White Helmets", who are doing a heroic job in the most affected areas of Idlib. For many years, the White Helmets have been rescuing survivors of the bombardments by Assad's and Putin's air force that has targeted mainly civilian infrastructure. The White Helmets are operating independently from any terrorist organisation or militia. They have been awarded with several prices and international decorations. We still call upon you to support them.

However, we learned in the last days that four out of the 182 students of the R&R learning centre in Salqin have died in the earthquake. Most others have lost their home and are now living with their families in the street. Even though search & rescue operations are the first emergency, we cannot leave the families we serve stranded. The local volunteers of our Syrian branch have made a first needs assessment and we call upon your generosity to help those who survived. Temperatures are currently around 0°C in this area. Many survivors are facing certain death if international aid is not arriving soon. We guarantee that every donation we receive with the special object "Earthquake" will go 100% to the families of Salqin.

International aid is barely reaching this area. Even though the Assad government had promised to deliver parts of the humanitarian assistance reaching Damascus through the UN and affiliated NGOs to Idlib, none of these promises has materialised. For this reason, the UN Security Council has given the extraordinary authorisation to UN agencies to deliver cross-border aid from Türkiye without consent of the Syrian government. Russia, as permenent member of the Security Council, has repeatidely threatened to veto such cross-border aid, reducing the allocated border crossing to only one: Bab Al-Hawa, next to the city of Antakya. Despite such threats, the authorisation for cross-border aid was renewed on 9 January 2023 for 6 more months. However, it took the UN agencies three days before an aid convoy for the earthquake survivors has finally reached the border on 9 February.

For more than nine years, we have provided daily education for Syrian refugees and Lebanese youth of all communities in the Akkar Governorate of Lebanon, the poorest region of the country with the highest percentage of refugees. We could enroll more than 3,000 refugee children into school. In the last school year, more than 700 students received daily education in one of our five learning centres.

The situation today is more dramatic than ever. Lebanon has lived through a total economic breakdown with more than 1,500% inflation over three years. Public schools are nowadays almost permanently on strike because the state cannot pay any more teachers. Our learning centres have de facto become the only chance for the children we serve to receive a comprehensive education.

Like in the past, we are mainly relying on private small donations to fund our daily classes. It is harder for us to collect private money, but it guarantees our sustainability and independence. In nine years, we have not missed one single school day! Our local teachers are doing a tremendous job to continue daily services despite the harsh situation. Today, they need your help to keep going.

We need to raise EUR 40,000 before the end of the year to cover the salaries for our 25 local teachers and teaching volunteers, both Lebanese and Syrians. This amount will allow us to offer daily classes throughout the school year, from October 2022 till June 2023. More than 500 students will directly benefit from these classes. This means that EUR 10 per month are enough to keep one student in school. And if you give a little bit more, we can again reach 700 children, like last year.

Please click here to support our students with your generous donation! We guarantee that our overhead costs for the international administration and communication of our work will remain below 1% of our total budget, like in the past nine years.

In the framework of the project “Interreligious Youth Network for Peace and Children Rights in Akkar”, we are looking for an experimented illustrator/graphic designer to produce an illustrated version of the Children Rights Charter, written together with our youth leaders from all communities of Akkar. The result can be presented in form of a comic book or an illustrated collection of testimonies that we are going to print, both in Arabic and in English language. Both the drafting process and the final book will be important milestones after nine years of work in the north of Lebanon.

Please find below the official call for applications that includes the exact terms of reference, required qualifications and conditions:

Deadline: Monday, 20 June 2022, 11:55pm Beirut time (UTC+2:00)
Applications or inquiries: contact@reliefandreconciliation.org

For the ninth time, religious leaders of the Akkar Governorate, the region of our first Peace Centre in the north of Lebanon, came together with Syrian refugees and our Lebanese friends for the annual Peace Iftar. Muslims and Christians of different sects and convictions broke the fast together in this Holy Month of Ramadan. More than 200 friends from different beliefs and convictions, most of them Syrian refugees from the camps, came together for this main event of the year, renewing their commitment to work together for peace and justice, in solidarity with the most deprived.

The Peace Iftars are the main events of spiritual solidarity every year, alongside the Easter Peace March, celebrated on the occasion of the main Christian feast, and the annual Solidarity Olive Harvest in tradition of the workers' movement. The majority of the host and refugee population in our area are Sunni Muslim. It is a local tradition that Muslims are inviting their neighbours to the breaking of the fast, in form of a shared meal at sunset, during the Holy Month of Ramadan.

The religious leaders of all major communities in our area form the core of the Steering Committee that gives us the major orientations for our work. We submit ourselves to their directions under one condition: that consensus can be found. Background to this rule is the concept of "diapraxis" whereas trust can better be built by practical cooperation than by words alone.

For the first time, the new Maronite Archbishop of Tripoli, Mgr Youssef Soueif, joined the Sunni Mufti of Akkar, Sheikh Zeid Zakariya, and the Orthodox Archbishop, Metropolit Basilius Mansour, for this year's Peace Iftar, together with other pastors, priests and sheikhs of the Alawite, Sunni, Orthodox, Maronite and Protestant communities. It was a great sign of trust and support that he came all the way from Tripoli to the high Sunni mountains for this occasion.

Lebanon has been hit by a triple crisis. The Covid-19 pandemic came only on top of  political turmoil at home and in neighbouring Syria and a dramatic economic meltdown with more than 400% inflation per year. The needs are enormous and we need your help for keeping our class rooms open, both virtually and in real life. We started collecting used tablets and laptop computers to facilitate distant learning in this academic year. Lebanese schools have finally adapted to the Covid-19 pandemic with online classes, but almost none of the Syrian refugee children has access to electronic devices and affordable internet.

The biggest part of our budget is dedicated to education. In the school-year 2019-20, we opened a third informal camp school in vicinity of Kousha and we could maintain daily educational classes for more than 250 children in four different locations of the Akkar Governorate. In 2019, we spent more than €100,000 for our Educational Programme, also thanks to a grant we received from SlovakAid. In this year, like in the past, we are relying exclusively on private small donations to bring the children we serve through the Covid Winter. It is the start of our 8th school year and there has not been one school day without classes at our Peace Centre.

Our aim is to raise €20,000 by the end of this year 2020 to help refugee students through the Covid Winter. With this amount, we can provide daily education to more than 300 students over four months in all four locations we serve in the North of Lebanon: at the Peace Centre Bkarzla, at the informal camp school in Kousha and at the outreach centres in Michmich and Rahbe. We are counting on your help.

You can make a donation from all over the world using the "Donate" buttons on our website. We make the pledge that all donations with the special mention "Covid Winter" will be used exclusively for this campaign. Please contact us if you prefer to make a bank transfer or if you have any other question!

The pandemic of the new corona virus has severe effects on the refugee camps in the north of Lebanon. Though none of the families we serve has been infected, the total lockdown of the country is a heavy burden. Most Syrian refugees are earning a living as daily labourer, but even the black market is shut down nowadays. And the cash assistance from the UN is only $27 per month for about half of all refugee families - not enough to still the hunger if you also have to pay rent.

We have been urged by the families we serve to provide basic assistance to survive the crisis. Such form of aid is not our usual approach, as we favour to support the self-reliance of communities. But in these special times, it is literally about the daily bread. We started distributing bread baskets in the refugee camps of Akkar and we wish to extend the emergency response to poor Lebanese. $1 per day can make the difference to nourish a family. We call upon your generosity to help.

Our goal is to distribute daily bread baskets at least to the 120 families of our students until the end of the lockdown. That would cost us a bit more than $2,500 in one month. We aim at raising $4,000 with this special fundraiser for also providing one iftar meal to each family during the Holy Month of Ramadhan that is starting around 22 April. The more we receive, the more we can give.

For supporting this emergency action, please donate here to one of our accounts and mention "Daily Bread" in the subject line of your transfer!

For more than two months, the Lebanese people are in the streets. The whole country is blocked and more than a quarter of the entire population joined the protests against the ruling class of politicians. We have seen many protests in Beirut over the last years, but never it spread to all regions of the country. All banks, schools and universities have been closed for several weeks and most highways are blocked. The demonstrations have remained peaceful over the first weeks but some of the ruling parties have recently tried to stir up sectarian hatred.

The whole approach of Relief & Reconciliation is put to a test in this tense situation. We have united all communities in Akkar, the poorest region of Lebanon, around our cause: the future of the youth. We have managed to enrol more than 1,200 Syrian refugees into public schools. And also in this seventh school year since we started operations, we managed to keep our classes running. So far, more than 150 students are attending our daily homework help sessions and basic literacy and numeracy classes. We finished the last school year 2018/19 with more than 300 students, also thanks to a grant of SlovakAid. We want to get there again this year.

In this new school year, we started a third informal camp school in the vicinity of Kousha, Akkar. Like in the first two camp schools in Sahl Miniarah and Tell Aabbas, the daily classes are run by Syrian teachers. We managed to enrol all kids of the camp and the neighbouring collective shelters into public schools. But many of these kids have never hold a pencil in their life. They need much support for being able to cope with the Lebanese curriculum, which is partly taught in French. There are still thousands of Syrian students in our area out of school. EUR 25 per month are enough to provide daily homework help and basic alphabetisation classes to one child.

The war in Syria is far from being over. For the last 4 months, the Idlib Governorate in the North-West of Syria has been the target of daily bombings by the Syrian regime and its Russian ally. With all borders closed around the country, Idlib was the last safe zone for many Syrians who were fleeing the persecution of the regime. More than 3 million IDPs (internally displaced persons) are stranded here. Our Syrian branch, the Levantine Relief Network, has been working in Idlib for more than four years.

Today, an urgent call for help reached us from Barkush, next to the Turkish border. 40,000 displaced persons have arrived over the last weeks, mainly from Khan Shaykhun. With the help of some local friends, they could built provisional tents and shelters. But there is no help to nourish the children and maintain basic hygiene. We are calling upon your generosity to deliver emergency kits and food baskets to the families stranded in Barkush. Please click on the "Donate" button to make a contribution and please note "Idlib" in the subject line! You will find more details below if you click on the "Read more" link.

The project will be conducted in Al Saadyeh village that is subordinate to Darkush at the Syrian-Turkish border. The area is now safe due to its proximity from the Turkish border and the inability of the Syrian regime to conduct any war there in order to avoid any war with Turkey. Our project will include the following activities:

The purchase and the distribution of these goods will be carried out by trusted volunteers of the Levantine Relief Network. The volunteers will apply a unique code to each kit or basket, which is connected to one specific family. Photos and videos will be taken of all kits and baskets, showing the ID number and proofing the hand-over to families in needs without revealing their faces.

You can make a donation from any place in the world by using the bank details the PayPal account of R&R International indicated in the Donate Now section. We give the guarantee that 100% of your donation will go to the families in need if you indicate "Idlib" in the subject line of your donation. We will cover transaction costs from our general budget. If you donate more than $50, we can add a specific message from you to the kit or basket that you are funding. Please use the contact form on our website if you wish to add such a message!

Education is a marathon, not a sprint. Since the establishment of our first Peace Centre in the North of Lebanon in 2013, we have been providing daily education to more than 1,200 Syrian and Lebanese children. We follow the principle of continuity of care. None of the children that we have served has been left behind. In 2015, we managed to enrol more than 450 Syrian students of our informal camp schools into public Lebanese schools. Since then, we continue to provide daily homework help to Syrians and Lebanese to support their success in school.

In this school year 2018/19, we could expand our work thanks to a project grant by SlovakAid, in partnership with People in Need Slovakia. Besides the Peace Centre in Bkarzla, the Tell Aabbas camp and the outreach centre in Michmich, we could open a fourth location in the village of Rahbe. About 300 students are attending 16 daily classes in these locations. And despite the winter cold in the Akkar mountains, the hearts of our teachers and international volunteers are burning to make the school integration of all these children a success.

Last week, we finished the fifth year of school support in the North of Lebanon, next to Syrian border. As in previous years, we offered daily homework help sessions at our Peace Centre in Bkarzla and at the informal camp school in Tell Aabbas throughout the school year. Our Lebanese and Syrian teachers joined forces with our international volunteers to continue the care for the children we serve and not to leave anybody behind. We hope that all our students successfully passed the exams. Besides homework help, we also offered English classes in Bkarzla, Tell Aabbas and two other locations. And with the help of the Tavola Valdese from Italy, we could provide vocational training classes in the field of electricity, plumbing and sowing.

Midst in the school year, in the end of January, we were shocked by the arson attack on the main class room of the Tell Aabbas camp school. Unknown assailants had put the wooden structure on fire. We are fortunate that homework classes could continue in the workshop for our vocational training and that a Spanish NGO started now the reconstruction of the class room. But the incident shows in how vulnerable conditions Syrian refugees in Lebanon are living. Most of those we serve are paralysed by constant fear of arbitrary arrests, as they don't have any legal residence. Criminal acts like this arson attack are hardly pursued by the authorities and many are exploited on the informal labour market without any guarantee to get paid.

The school year is over, but life goes on. Our vocational training classes are going to continue throughout the summer and our international volunteers are offering catch-up classes and summer activities for preparing the return to school. We need your help to continue our struggle for the future of the Syrian youth. Please support us with a small donation! You can find out how in the Donate Now! section.

From 28 August till 22 September 2017, participants from around the world came to the R&R Peace Centre for our first "Akkar Summer School of Spiritual Solidarity". International participants from various academic backgrounds joined forces with local volunteers from Syria and Lebanon to reflect upon this guiding principle of our work. Academic courses on political, religious, legal and humanitarian aspects of the Syrian refugee crisis were combined with outreach activities and the implementation of small solidarity projects in the different communities we serve.

The concept of "spiritual solidarity" has become one of the guiding principles for the work of R&R Syria in the North of Lebanon. It encompasses the need for going beyond mere material help in response to an epochal crisis like the Syrian conflict. At the crossroads between conflict transformation and humanitarian aid, the idea of "spiritual solidarity" can help us to minimise power gaps and neo-colonial attitudes towards those we serve. By addressing each man and womand as an individual being with a unique spiritual experience, the application of this principle can open a space of encounter that is not marked by the dichotomy of those in need and those who give. Also, spiritual solidarity means that people of different convictions can live and work together without forcing a total homogenisation of beliefs and belongings.

Four weeks of reflection, dialogue and diapraxis have definitely not been enough to explore the meaning of "spiritual solidarity" in all its dimensions. Not all participants could fully relate to the concept but a beginning was made to foster the reflection for the future. A publication is planned for the beginning of next year in preparation of a second edition of this Akkar Summer School. We will also pursue the reflection with our volunteers at the R&R Peace Centre and with our members from around the world. Please join the debate to share your own thoughts on this topic!

The news from Syria is not getting better. 2016 was a terrible year for the Syrian people and also for our young organisation. Aleppo has been destroyed and thousands more have been killed or displaced. We have seen friends losing their loved ones under the bombs of the Syrian regime and its allies. We have seen people losing hope. We have seen people profiting from the suffering of others for personal gains.

But with your help, we could keep a little flame of hope alive. We are the only organisation combining peacebuilding with humanitarian aid in response to the Syrian crisis. At our Peace Centre in the North of Lebanon, we have brought together people of all faiths and backgrounds around a common cause: the future of the youth.

• Our volunteers in Lebanon have built bridges of understanding between hundreds of people from different communities, Syrians and Lebanese alike.
• With small donations alone, we have provided regular classes to more than 1,000 children at our Peace Centre and in different other locations.
• With the help of public donors, we have conducted relevant academic studies and provided survival aid to more than 11,000 vulnerable Syrians.

At the Syrian border, we have shown that peace is possible, even between communities who are driven against each other in Syria and elsewhere in the world. Christians, Muslims and people of other convictions are united in their struggle for a better future. Today, we are calling on you to keep this work going and expand it in the coming year. Also in future, we want to rely mainly on private small donations for keeping our independence, our sustainability and our spirit of volunteer service.

"Peace Is Possible" - this is the slogan of our campaign for 2017. With your help, we can let the seeds of peace we planted in the North of Lebanon grow and bear fruits, also beyond the small region we are working in. 

In 2017, we hope to expand the work of our Peace Centre in the North of Lebanon and reach out to those in most urgent need inside Syria. ​

Our work over the past four years has shown on a small scale that peace is possible, but we need your help to allow it to grow and flourish. 

Please visit our fundraising page to learn more about our goals for this year, and make a contribution.

Even if you cannot give much, you can help us to spread the word. Please promote our initiative within the circle of your families, colleagues and friends! Please follow us on Facebook or Twitter and organise a fundraiser for us in your home town! 

We’re in this for the long haul. Are you?