The Peace Centre in Lebanon
The R&R Peace Centres are the heart and soul of our association. They serve as open houses to the youth of all local communities in the borderlands between Lebanon and Syria, as learning centre for Syrian refugee students and Lebanese, as home for our international volunteers and as central offices for our operations.
Our first Peace Centre was located in the municipality of Bkarzla, 12 km from the Syrian border. Bkarzla was one of the few Maronite villages in the Akkar region of Lebanon that had given shelter and work to Syrian refugees. Here we were happy for twelve years. But on the eve of the fall of the Syrian regime, as many prepared to return, we were forced to think about our future in Lebanon. After we found out that the public school in Quantara had become vacant, and likewise the old house opposite to it, we began to consider a move. The move was motivated by practical and financial considerations, but also by the deeper conviction that our presence in Akkar is not temporary. We have served both Lebanese and Syrian children for more than a decade and intend to continue doing so for many years to come. After a year of changes and challenges, we are happily established in the beautiful village of Qantara, next to Bkarzla, in the Akkar Governorate of Lebanon. Our Peace Centre is more than a a guest house. The international volunteers living there are forming a small community on their own, mixed and open to all, which tries to live the principal of "spiritual solidarity" in action. Amongst the hundreds of volunteers who have lived and worked with us, we have welcomed practicing Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindu, as well as many atheists, agnostics or persons of other conviction or belief. We are not only living in diversity, but actively sharing it, discovering the culture of Abrahamic hospitality that has marked this region for centuries, especially in the poor, rural areas. Our Peace Centre welcomes youth of different confessions and groups, both Lebanese and Syrian. We chose a location in a safe, natural setting to give traumatised children and adolescents the possibility to breathe. In our Peace Centre, they are receiving psychosocial and educational support as well as material help. We have also distributed emergency aid to newly arriving refugees and continue to provide assistance for the most urgent needs. The borderlands, a place of hospitality
Akkar is a mixed region where a majority of Sunnis live side by side with Christians and Alawites. In this region, family ties have crossed the Syrian border for many years. Akkar is also the poorest region of Lebanon that welcomed the highest percentage of refugees per capita. The ratio between refugee and host population almost 1:1 during the peak of war and oppression in Syria during the last decade. The poor were welcoming the poorest. Here, sacred hospitality is still the norm. When hiking through the beautiful nature of this land, you will most certainly be obliged by the people you meet to make a detour to their house. "Hawlu, share a coffee or a tea with us!"
Akkar has been the home region for our Peace Centre since its establishment in July 2013. The location was chosen in consensus with our regional Steering Committee, composed by moral authorities of all communities present in this area. Over the years, further camp schools and learning centres have been established in different locations within Akkar that represent the diversity of the region, either as permanent branches, rented by R&R, or as guests of local associations. In average, we are maintaining classes in five learning centres throughout the region. Our local teachers and international volunteers have delivered daily lessons - without missing a single school day, even in times of crisis and war. Despite the traditional sense of hospitality, Akkar had been shaken by sectarian strife when we first came to the region in 2012. There was open war between Sunni and Alawite villages, according to their affiliation with the belligerents of the Syrian war. And some Christians were also involved, according to the affiliation of their party. Today, civil peace has returned, also thanks to the work of religious leaders who started to meet amongst themselves on a monthly basis, following the convocation of our Steering Committee in 2013. We need your support to sustain our work for the future. Please click here for making a small donation. Every help counts! The Peace Centre in Syria
After more than a decade of war, the Syrian people liberated the country from oppression and dictatorship. The biggest refugee crisis of this century is coming to an end. But the Assad regime left behind a field of ruins. We returned to Syria in 2025 with the families we have served since 2013 in the north of Lebanon and in our cross-border aid operations. We returned and started to rebuild. In the beginning of December 2025, we could establish the new Syrian branch of our organisation and rent a space in the village of Tell Nabi Mendo, the ancient city of Kadesh, on the Orontes river in the Homs Governorate of Syria.
The new Peace Centre Kadesh opened the gates in the beginning of 2026. Half of our team of local teachers had been working with us in Lebanon before. The other half had survived in the ruins of war or returned from internal displacement. Like on the other side of the border, in Lebanon, the region of our Peace Centre has been a mixed area for centuries - where a Sunni majority has been living together with Christians, Alawites and other minorities. Today, the people that return are facing huge challenges. More than 80% of houses in this area have been destroyed during the war. There is hardly any income and the aid for reconstruction has barely started. And then, there is the question of justice. The Syrian youth needs international solidarity, today more than ever. Having won the war, we now hope to win also the peace. Please read more in the newsfeed of our website or follow us on social media to receive regular updates about the new Peace Centre in Kadesh. We need your support to prepare this space also for international volunteers that are starting their service in this new location in 2026. |
Cover photo: The R&R Peace Centre Qantara in the Akkar Governorate of Lebanon
Location of our first Peace Centre in the Akkar Governorate, the most northern region of Lebanon, bordering Syria
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