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Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development (LSESD)
Himaya’s training program conducted a training for a team of 12 volunteers that were recruited by the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development (LSESD) in order to enable them to implement “child friendly spaces” in Syria. The subjects of the training revolved around “The Different Types of Play”, “Psychological First Aid” and “Basic Tips on Medical First Aid”.
This was the first collaboration between himaya and LSESD and the beginning of a fruitful one. Here is what the program officer of LSESD Suzanne Schenkel thought after the training:
“Personally, I felt that the sessions you all led were great! I really appreciated that you kept it very hands-on and were able to cover a diverse range of topics […] We look forward to partnering more with Himaya in the future!”
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Himaya and the Development for People and Nature Association (DPNA)
Himaya conducted a 4 day training in Jezzine for a group of 35 volunteers who plan on working with refugees in the south of Lebanon. The training consisted of three sessions, the first introduced abuse, its types and signs, the rights of the children, abuser profile, defining trauma, the concept of resilience, and how to detect abuse and refer to himaya. The second session introduced animation techniques depending on the age group, how the attitude of the trainer should be, how to create sessions etc… While the third session introduced themes such as leadership, teamwork, bullying, conflict resolution, creativity and innovation and effective communication.
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This is the story of Sarah, she is 13 and she is another victim of sexual abuse.
Sarah’s parents separated when she was only 7 and after the divorce was finalized her father left and never came back. Short after her father’s departure, Sarah’s mother got remarried to a man she thought would help her protect her daughter and her little son Rami age 14. Samir was your average guy who seemed to care about Sarah, Rami and her mother. Things were looking good for Sarah and her little brother who thought that the conflicts between their mom and dad were finally over. After a while things started escalating as Samir became more and more aggressive with little Rami, punching him in the face repeatedly for wetting his bed. The abuse was on going and Sarah’s mother was too scared to speak out. One morning while the mother was as at the grocery store, Samir saw the opportunity to get close to Sarah and use the fear that young girl felt when he approached her to get her to do the unthinkable. He’d say “I don’t think you really love me, because if you did, you would have sex with me now”. The sexual abuse went on for 5 long years as young Sarah was ashamed to speak out about what was going on dreading her mother’s reaction if she were to find out that her husband was “cheating” on her with her own daughter. The neighbours who lived right across their home started noticing Samir’s bizarre behaviour and one day while Sarah was having lunch at their place, they decided to ask about what was going on. Sarah’s reaction was ambiguous and confused. On one hand she wanted to protect her family and on the other she wanted to get rid of the terrible abuse she was enduring. The neighbours’ instincts were right as they decided to contact himaya and convinced Sarah to talk with himaya’s specialists about what was going on. Sarah came to himaya’s offices and decided to only speak out about the physical abuse her little brother was suffering from. That was a firm base from which to start as himaya’s psychologist provided the right environment and the proper comfort needed for Sarah to start speaking out about her own experience. Meanwhile, himaya’s social worker started their investigations and a meeting was scheduled with himaya’s specialists and Sarah’s mother who fell into tears when they announced to her what was going in her own household. She even admitted feeling something was off between Samir and Sarah but she wouldn’t dare to talk about it because of Samir’s uncontrollable temper. Now that the truth was out, Sarah’s mother got the guidance she needed to file a lawsuit against her husband for physical abuse, sexual abuse and rape. It was not long before Samir was convicted and taken out of their home. Today, the relationship between Sarah and her mother needs a lot of work and support provided by himaya’s social workers. Little Rami has a hard time speaking, isolating himself from any social interaction which he is working on very closely with himaya’s psychologist and psychiatrist. Sarah is still processing the entire trauma she went through. It’s a long way to go but one day she and little Rami will know they are no victims but survivors.
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Send us your CV and skills or ways in which you would like to get involved.
Introduce us to people or companies you believe would like to help.
Donate used or new goods.
Sponsor a project by providing skills or financing it.
Monetary donation for beneficiaries or various projects.
Account in the name of: Association Himaya
Bank: Banque Libano Francaise
Branch: Accaoui
Swift: BLFSLBBX
Account # USD: 016351066003840
IBAN USD: LB12001000000016351066003840
Account # LBP: 016351066003422
IBAN LBP: LB46001000000016351066003422
To get involved or for more information
volunteer@himaya.org
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