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ALPHA Participatory Mapping Project in Yater (South Lebanon)

When you enter the ALPHA Center in Yater you barely have time to realize that you are there. A group of kids will greet you enthusiastically, humid kisses on the cheaks, small hands that grab yours and drag you towards the playing area, interested eyes that study and follow every move that you make.

On Thursday, Friday and Saturday afternoon (as in the other 4 centers of ALPHA) children gather to play, read, learn or simply have some time for themselves. Indeed, our aim is to provide colorful and peaceful islands for children. Islands on which it is allowed to dream, to explore, to question, and to get to know each other with respect. But also islands that one must leave to meet with other children who come from other places...


If for us it might be common to move around frequently, mobility in the South of Lebanon and encounters between the children of different villages are rare. The reasons for this tendency are many: the lack of time and interest of parents to bring their children to new places, the lack of public transport possibilities, a dangerous environment due to unsafe driving or the presence of areas which are still polluted by cluster-bombs. Especially this last problem decreases the possibility of children to enjoy the nature and play around freely. For all these reasons, we have been experimenting lately with a participatory mapping project... We asked children to draw a map of their village with as much information as possible... Where are your houses? Where is the market? Which are the places that you prefer? And slowly Yater started appearing in front of us through the eyes of our children. Trees were made out of leafs and branches, houses were cut out of coloured paper, mountains and rocks appeared...

Through participatory mapping children have the opportunity to visualize their village, to discover it from different points of view. They learn how to work in groups and take decisions together on how to represent their home-town. This process also stimulates curiosity for the surrounding villages, and represents a successful first step towards an exchange with the other ALPHA centers in Tibnine, Haris, Shaqra and Toulin. In the next future we will make the activities of participatory mapping available also to the other ALPHA children and organize excursions and mini-kermesse to encourage exchange between villages.

Interview with the President of ALPHA - Albert Abi Azar

Q: Albert, tell us something about the history of ALPHA. When was it born as an association and what developments did it undergo?

A: ALPHA was founded in 1993 by 6 Board Members, all professionals in the educational and pedagogical sectors, who were keen on using their diverse skills to support the weakest strata of Lebanon’s population in regards to alphabetization and popular education.

The projects and workshops implemented were mainly directed at adolescents and adults, and aimed to increase the potential for (re)integration in society and therefore of  employability of the beneficiaries. Different educational and alphabetization activities were organized throughout the country (in Akkar, the Bekaa, the Chouf area, Beirut and the South of Lebanon) without any link to religious or political institutions. Then things drastically changed in summer 2006… 

Q: Why? What happened?

A: In July 2006 a horrible war ravaged our country: Israeli airplanes targeted any infrastructure or area, which was thought to be linked to Hezbollah’s resistance activities and as it is often the case, many innocent civilians were caught in between. Especially the South of Lebanon was deeply affected by days of seemingly random and continuous bombings. The heavy use of cluster-bombs further exacerbated the damage, skyrocketing the number of deaths, and producing long-lasting negative effects both at the psychological and financial level. Many areas were heavily polluted by defect and therefore still unexploded devices: most of the agricultural fields were inaccessible for cultivation for long periods, and the population was greatly limited in its mobility as the danger of being killed by such cluster-bombs was, and still remains, high.
Sadly, the youngest and hence more vulnerable victims of the war were the children of the South of Lebanon. Most of them had to flee with their parents to Beirut and stay in provisional shelters. Often, on their return, they found that their houses and/or their families had been irremediably destroyed. This came as an additional deep shock.

Some were left orphans, others had to make efforts to be reintegrated into a fragmented social environment, in which the percentage of anxiety, depression, and aggressive behaviours had dramatically increased.

ALPHA immediately realized that something needed to be done to help the children and parents to cope with the aftermath of the war and to make sure that children were adequately protected, both psychologically and physically from the violence which was still swirling all around them. And that’s how ALPHA’s mission expanded and developed towards the Child Protection Program.

Q: Can you explain more in detail what kind of intervention you started in 2006 in the South of Lebanon?

A: Thanks to our Project Coordinator in the South, Salma Fawaz, we were capable of starting our work effectively right after the end of the 33 days long war, in August 2006. In collaboration with the French NGO Enfants du Monde et Droit de l’Homme (EMDH) we developed a Child Protection Program and received direct funding from ECHO, UNICEF, UNIFIL, the French Embassy to Lebanon, private foundations and Lebanese citizens.

From 2006 onwards we implemented psychological assistance and educational activities in 15 centres around Tibnine (South of Lebanon) with a beneficiary group oscillating between 1500 and 2000 children, depending on the activity. We especially focused helping the children deal with the trauma of the war and further developed into addressing the topic of violence in families and in schools through conflict-resolution workshops/ therapeutic theatre/ painting and reading activities/ training of teachers/ etc all within the frame of the Convention of the Right of the Child. A correct elaboration of the trauma was especially crucial for the children who were suffering from hyperactivity, enuresia, aggressiveness, etc. Through excursions in the few areas free from cluster-bombs and sports activities, children were able to release a lot of tension and were able to break free from the oppressing post-war atmosphere for 3 afternoons a week in our centres.

Q: What is ALPHA doing now?

A: At the moment ALPHA is trying to recover from a very difficult and complicated transition phase: in May 2010 our French partner EMDH went suddenly bankrupt, which meant that our European Union project was immediately closed and that we lost 260.000 EUR overnight. It was a very hard moment for everyone in ALPHA but the last thing we wanted to do was to give up. Although we were forced to close 10 of the 15 centres we had opened right after July 2006, we continued relentlessly to offer psychological support and educational activities to the children of the ALPHA centres of Tibnine, Yater, Haris, Kafra and Toulin (for a total of 500 beneficiaries). However, the support, shown by the local population and the municipalities involved, strengthened our belief that ALPHA was walking into the right direction. Everyone continued working, often on a very low salary, in order not to give up our dream and 18 years of hardwork. Last May we reunited all during our annual Kermesse in Sultanieh where all the 200 ALPHA children could be together again. Today, we are in a slightly better situation, as we are expecting the funds from the French Embassy to Lebanon beginning of 2012, but they are just the beginning of our slow recovery. We still need lots of support.

Q: What can one do to help ALPHA?
A: Private donors can have a big impact on our activities at this point. That is why we developed an ALPHA membership system that can allow us to keep our activities in the 5 centres alive. With a contribution of USD $100 it is possible to sponsor the pedagogical material needed by one ALPHA child for 1 entire year. 

FOCUS SOUTH LEBANON

Overall Context

The civil war (1975 – 1990) and the July 2006 war not only had a deeply negative impact on the infrastructure of Lebanon: years of conflict also strongly affected Lebanese society both at the psychological and financial level, leaving the population exposed to trauma and economic hardship. Unemployment and scarce access to good quality health- and educational services negatively influenced an already fragile societal structure: frustration, depression and hopelessness increased the level of aggressiveness, anxiety and violence within families and the population by and large. Although the continuous conflicts forced families to adapt to new circumstances, and requested women to take over more responsibilities than usually expected within the patriarchal family structure, traditional gender roles continued to represent a valid societal organizational pattern, hindering new communication and interaction possibilities. Paired with a highly conflictual outer environment and consequent high exposure to stress, the traditional backbone of society (irrespective of the religious belief) and the humiliation of exclusion from proper employment, education, and health- services, generated a highly dysfunctional society.

Membership Options

Private donors, committed to high-quality assistance to children in need, are fundamental in order to be able to continue our activities. If you are interested in subscribing to one of our membership options, please send us an email at info@alpha-association.org specifying which typology you are applying for. Thanks! 

STUDENT Card
Annual contribution of USD $60

BLUE Card
Annual contribution of USD $120

SILVER Card
Annual contribution of USD $300

GOLDEN Card
Annual contribution of USD $500 + 

You are a company?

You can support us with a fix annual contribution or make a punctual donation. Your company's logo will be included in the list of sponsors of our association for the entire year.

You are getting married and would like to make a donation to our association on behalf of your wedding guests?

Should you be interested in assisting ALPHA with a punctual donation please contact us at the above-mentioned email address for more info and for special arrangements.

You would like to give an ALPHA membership as a Christmas present?

We will ship you the membership card with a special envelope and a photo and/or drawing by the children we support.