Hope for Syrian Students - June 2020 Update

Syria and Lebanon

A “holding pattern”

….is a concept I am too-well acquainted with, considering how much time I spend on airplanes because of my work with The Outreach Foundation. Given the fact that my “hometown airport” is Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta it is not uncommon to hear the pilot come on the sound system in our approach to the world’s busiest airport to apologize for being in one, sometimes, because of storms in the area, but, most often, because the “traffic” for landing has backed up. Recently, we were stuck in one of these weather-related holding patterns for so long, that we had to bop over to Nashville to get gas – before coming back to Atlanta to land!

In much the same vein, schools all over the world, from Boston to Baghdad, from Denver to New Delhi, from Peoria to Paris have gone into a “holding pattern” because of COVID-19 and such has been the case with the schools for Syrian refugee children run by the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon. Over the years, your generous gifts have supported and encouraged these four schools in Lebanon (in Minyara, Tyre, Tripoli and in the Beqaa Valley at Kab Elias). With the local Presbyterian church providing oversight, these places of love and hope have embraced the fragile, displaced refugees in their midst.

I last visited one of these schools in October, as you see me here, surrounded by a sea of joyful children. But in just a few weeks, Lebanon would be rocked by anti-government protests and “stay at home” orders were issued, nationwide. That would soon “morph” into “stay at home” orders necessitated by the pandemic. The effect of both upheavals in Lebanon brought about a collapsed economy (devaluation of the currency meant that a $2,000 monthly salary now had the purchasing power of only $500). And as is always the case, the most vulnerable would be the poor, like the families of these children who even now, eagerly await the re-opening of these schools, later this summer.

May these photos remind you to “not grow weary in well-doing for these little lives. And pray that their teachers will again be with them, sharing the Good News and offering them “hope and a future.

Grace and peace,

Marilyn
Associate Director of Partnership Development

Read more about Hope for Syrian Students HERE.

THE NEED
The Outreach Foundation is seeking gifts totaling $50,000 to help educate Syrian children and young people, be they refugees in Lebanon or those who remain in war but are preparing for God’s future in their own land., You may make a gift HERE or by sending a check to our office.