Adventist School Becomes Sanctuary in Lebanon
30 September 2024|
“On Tuesday, September 23, the school staff welcomed around 35 families with more than 250 members, including 55 children ranging from the ages of 1 month to 15 years, seeking refuge from the threat of bombs in their towns,” Jean-Jack Kareh, a writer for the Middle East and North Africa Union Mission wrote of the difficult conditions of the internally displaced people (IDPs) in the Adventist Review.
Since October 2023, Lebanon and the surrounding areas have been wracked with conflict, leading to staggering mortality rates and thousands of misplaced people. Citizens of the southern parts of Lebanon felt the quaking of bombs dropping from aircrafts buzzing overhead, packed their belongings, and fled to the capital of Beirut for safety. Safe harbor was found in Adventist School Mouseitbeh (ASM). The staff of this school may have been hired to educate their students, but in moments like this, they upheld the larger mission, which was to guide and care for those under their authority. As a response to the constant unrest and displacement, the school staff created a task force to serve and care for the IDPs tirelessly. On Monday, September 22, the school was informed that displaced families from at least five villages in the south of Lebanon would be arriving in need of shelter.
The school task force rose to the challenge, of collecting food, hygiene products, and bedding with meager resources and limited time. All 250 weary souls poured into the school for refuge the next day. ASM principal Elias Choufani, task force leader Dima Choufani, and her sister and school teacher Jana are some of the staff that have taken on the pressure, helping organize the families and care for the individuals as best as possible while dealing with sleep deprivation and overwhelming stress due to the current political climate.
Living conditions are not ideal. Bedding is scarce, they have to bathe in buckets, handle insufficient hygiene products, and eat prepackaged food since the school kitchens aren’t built for such a crisis. Such resources are not only difficult to procure but also expensive due to their scarcity.
Despite low resources, the task force has plans to edify their time together, Kareh reports,
“The task force formed by the school has planned several initiatives to support the displaced families, including a reading club, an awareness committee, and a sports committee. However, these activities haven’t started yet, as the families are still adjusting to this temporary way of life and grieving their losses.”
The community has also come out in droves, offering what they can to help the IDPs. One young student offered a water filtration system, and others donated baby supplies, food, and bedding. They admire the school’s dedication to offering sanctuary, yet the escalating crisis is reaching a level that is beyond what the school or the community can handle. The school is at capacity, its resources are running out, and the 18-hour days with constant issues and no sleep are wearing on the teachers and administrators.
Jana, one of the teachers, has said that the lack of supplies and the current economic crisis in Lebanon have made an already challenging situation impossible. They hope others can donate what they can and choose to move forward with dedicated resilience.
“Despite these challenges, for us, this is a way to live out our faith. We’re demonstrating our identity — our church identity, our Christian identity, our human identity — through action. Our staff is like a family. We are a family. We’re taking care of each other and supporting one another as we work intensely to be witnesses.”
