Happiness is...

Today we went over the mountain to the Bekaa Valley again – but this time for a meeting with Global Care local partner staff.  I spoke at Junior assembly at our host school, just outside Beirut, before we left. We’ve been thinking about Joseph (of the ‘technicolour dreamcoat’) over the last two mornings.  We thought about people walking a long way to a foreign land when they didn’t really want to leave their homes, how we feel when bad things happen to us...  and what makes us happy.

Over the last two days I’ve met some fantastic teachers and local NGO workers. I’ve seen them in action, educating and caring for children who are a very long way from home – they’ve left a bad situation, and many are in a bad situation now.  And what makes the teachers happy? Seeing illiterate children learn to read and write, watching a child from their tented roadside ‘shack school’ attend government school because they have reached sufficient educational standard.

Today we listened to them talking about their aims, and how they can report back to Global Care UK, both for accountability, and to keep donors informed.  It was humbling and challenging to share their delight at describing a child who is able for the first time to string letters together to read a word, or a child who suddenly realises the world is being opened up through reading and writing.

There are a few standout stories from this whistlestop visit:

• The lady we met yesterday who told us the terrible story of her life in Aleppo 5 years ago, and now in Lebanon, and that recently her brother, his son and their neighbours were killed in Syria in a bomb attack. She then proceeded to be thankful that she is alive and at the shack school her children have a chance of an education
• The lady who welcomed 11 of us into her tented home, and made us coffee in her immaculate ‘main room’, furnished only with UNHCR plastic, mattresses and cushions – and a stove
• The little boy who was really too young to go to the shack school – but the teachers recognised his potential and now at 5 he can read and write - unlike his parents
• The girl who goes shopping with her mother so she can read the names of the spices for her
• The boy who went to the doctor with his father so he could read signs and his father could get to his appointment
• A family whose children missed 4 years of school in Syria – but are now at the shack school and catching up their peers

• The fantastic couple who have been Tom and my hosts.  Their commitment to caring for those who are in vulnerable situations.
• The man who once fought the Syrians as a teenager in the militia, but now travels to Syria taking humanitarian aid
• The local partners whose aim is to provide education and love to children who had no hope, and help them believe in hope again.

The small parts of this country that I have seen are beautiful. The food is amazing. The people are welcoming and generous. But – and here’s the rub – what makes me happy?

Is it having the opportunity to visit Global Care projects first hand? Is it working as a volunteer for GCare? Is it the food on this trip? Is it the challenges and questions the trips raise?

And whatever the answer to those questions, should it be ...
supporting this project, and knowing I'm supporting and encouraging the partners here, helping them achieve their aims of creating opportunities for traumatised and desperate children to become a generation of literate and numerate people, who can help to rebuild their nation - when they get the chance to return home?

For more information about the project, go to: https://www.globalcare.org/projects/20