YOUTH TAKING THE REINS OF RECOVERY
By Joy Portella

Mercy Corps (press release), OR
6
Aug 1 2007
Lebanon

Children

Joy Portella in Mercy Corps’ youth leadership center in Bourj Hammoud,
Lebanon. Photo: Mercy Corps Lebanon

Beirut, Lebanon – Burj al Barajneh is a tough part of town. Entering
this southern neighborhood of Beirut is like entering another world –
the city’s many well-heeled, cosmopolitan dwellers are replaced by
women in traditional Islamic cover and families in densely packed
apartments. The poverty is palpable, and it’s so hot and crowded that
just breathing is difficult. Burj al Barajneh is, by every indicator,
an urban slum.

It’s also a war-torn slum. Burj al Barajneh is considered a Hezbollah
stronghold, and last summer’s war between Israel and Hezbollah
devastated the neighborhood – killing civilians, destroying homes
and public facilities, and knocking out critical transportation
infrastructure. Rebuilding has progressed rapidly, but the shells of
bombed-out apartment houses and bridges are still easy to find.

The grind of life in Burj al Barajneh is most difficult on children.

Looking out on the crowded, dusty streets, I couldn’t imagine where
kids would play or find any sense of relief. Then I saw the Mercy Corps
Center for Excellence, which just opened in May. From the outside,
the building looks new, clean and orderly – in sharp contrast with
the rest of the neighborhood. But it’s what goes on inside that is
truly exciting.

The Center for Excellence serves a number of roles: technology training
hub, educational facility and small business incubator. It is meant to
be a place where the community, particularly young people, can come
together and learn, work, connect with the outside world and gain
access to technology tools they wouldn’t otherwise have. Additional
Centers for Excellence are planned in Lebanon; the one in Burj al
Barajneh is the first.

The Center’s manager Lina Harakeh greeted us warmly before returning
to a computer tutorial with her student, a 30-something man in a
wheelchair. We passed rooms of high-school students studying for
exams and young girls meticulously coloring depictions of "Dora the
Explorer." In the main computer room, approximately 20 stations were
occupied by children and adolescents concentrating on everything from
IM chats to homework to the basics of PowerPoint.

The Center’s social worker Sherine and the IT instructor Hussein told
us that the already-full space is usually more crowded but many high
school students were in exams. "We’re expecting heavy traffic this
summer," explained Sherine. "The kids in this neighborhood don’t have
anywhere to go or anything to do." The high demand has caused the
Center to put time limits on how long each child can use a computer.

I was amazed by a little boy masterfully manipulating PowerPoint.

"The adults need more help than the kids," noted Hussein. "Some of
them have never even turned on a computer before, so we sometimes
need to personally sit and guide them. But the kids pick things up
without any problem."

This was a common theme: Time and again in Lebanon I saw young people
solving problems and driving progress in a way that many adults
could not:

Leadership groups for high school students in Burj al Barajneh and
Bourj Hammoud, an underserved Armenian neighborhood of Beirut, told
me about their plans to contribute positively to their communities
and pursue higher education.

At a lively retreat for young people training to be community
mobilizers, I heard debates on topics ranging from the status of
Lebanese women to the current security and political difficulties.

In the eastern city of Baalbek, also hit hard by last summer’s war,
Mercy Corps’ work with our local partner LOST is helping young people
to undertake environmental cleanup campaigns, paint public murals
and run a wildly popular basketball tournament.

During my three days touring these and other projects in Lebanon,
I saw a country filled with equal measures of promise and doubt –
a strong tradition of tolerance, openness and prosperity marred
by repeated episodes of violence and political impasse. Mercy Corps
understands that a peaceful Lebanon will be built on the foundation of
young, motivated leaders. Like the little boy who so easily picked up
PowerPoint, young people are naturals at building and spreading hope.