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.