The final countdown
We signed today the rental agreement for our first Peace Centre in the North of Lebanon as from 1 July 2013. The house is situated in the beautiful small village of Bkarzla in the Akkar district, only 12 km from the Lebanese border with Syria. More than 200,000 refugees have become stranded in this district alone, often in poorest conditions.
The house has a surface of about 700 m² and a huge garden. It is situated in a green and secure environment to allow beneficiaries to breathe. It is fully equipped, including 3 huge multi-purpose rooms and 6 bed rooms. The bed rooms will be transformed into offices and further class or meeting rooms over the coming weeks. But over the summer, they will accommodate our first international volunteers. We will use the opportunity of the holy month of Ramadan to start activities gradually.
The soft opening of the Peace Centre will take place in the framework of a Peace Iftar in the first days of Ramadan, by mid-July. In spiritual solidarity between refugee and host communities, between Muslims, Christians and other beliefs, we will break the fasting together. A unique opportunity to underline the multi-confessional character of our work.
We need your support to make this happen and to bridge the remaining gap in our first fundraising campaign. We have defined €30,000 as threshold for taking the responsibility to open the centre: that would be enough to run it for a couple of months at least. Please make a small donation to help us achieve this goal! We will give you a weekly update on the progress of our campaign.
After the end of Ramadan, as from the beginning of September, the regular activities of our Peace Centre shall be fully operational.