Stories

 

The soft beep of the air conditioner echoes in the large room, the silence will be filled in the next hour by the voices, laughter and shouts of 70 children in our Dekwaneh center and 40 in our Ashrafieh center. It’s the calm before the chaos.

Teachers and volunteers are talking about the day and making sure they have all the materials they need, and I am running around answering the requests.

But even amid these things reaching the next generation is our goal. This year the older teens aren’t camp goers they are helpers.  We wanted to give them a sense of ownership and responsibility. One of our helpers shared with us how helping made her feel,

“It was a beautiful experience, it was something new, you get more responsibility. You get to meet new kids and play with them and make them happy.” –Eliane

One of the mothers who helped with camp also shared her thoughts,

“This is not my first year and every time I feel like I’m more involved in the family because the staff who work there don’t make you feel like they’re working, and they treat the kids like they are their own kids, and they teach them about the Bible and how to respect each other” –Mira

The kids were enjoying exploring new things and the older groups were asking great questions. One day during my craft one of the boys in the youngest group saw a stack of children’s bibles in the corner. He asked about them. We had been planning to give them at the end of camp. But he was so excited, I brought him with his bag to the corner and slipped a bible in early. The next day while I was sitting on the side he came over and whispered to me that his sister wanted one too.

As we ended our camp, we asked the parents and children for feedback and a letter from one of the parents hit our hearts.

“Blessings to the best TM team. No words can describe the love and joy of my daughter Tina. A month passed like a dream, a beautiful dream. She was coming home and telling me how much she was happy. God give you strength and be with you. God bless your families. Many Blessings for years to come and success. Hope next year will be longer. “

The seeds planted over this summer will bloom through the year as our connection with the children and their families grow. We will see the flowering of these seeds and Lebanon will benefit from the fruit and joy they will bring. The farmer sows the seeds for generations and we believe that these seeds will change generations in Lebanon.