Dear ADRA Family,
Many of you have children or grandchildren who are currently out of school. Perhaps they are learning online in their bedrooms. Perhaps you are teaching them from your dining room table or the living room couch. Perhaps they are taking a break from school for a few days.
No matter how you engage with your children and promote learning from home, the truth is that many of us are figuring it out as we go. Most of us have relied for years on the school system, the wonderful teachers, the convenient bus pick-up, and perhaps a hot meal or two.
The ongoing global health outbreak has changed all of that.
The current disruptions make education difficult, but not impossible. Many of us still have our computers, WIFI, and access to more resources than we could use in a lifetime.
It makes me think how blessed many of us are compared to those who lack educational infrastructure and resources. In Lebanon, for example, thousands of school-aged Syrian refugees have nothing. No books, no teachers, no classrooms. Certainly no WiFi and YouTube Kids.
ADRA works to change that. In Beirut, we have a learning center that provides a space for refugee children to gather together, learn in their language, and even get access to psychosocial support.
Eliane Abi Kheil is the ADRA Center Coordinator at the learning center in Beirut, and she sees every day the value of education for refugee children.
“We try to involve them emotionally, physically, and educationally,” she said. “They like school a lot.”
During these uncertain times, nobody knows when “normal” life will resume. We make do with what we have in our home, and we venture outdoors when we must.
But during these trying times, think of the children who lost everything in Syria, and now must live in camps, shelters, and crowded homes in foreign countries. Think of the children who beam from ear to ear when they have the chance to learn in a classroom.
Our lives are disrupted, but before too long, things will likely return to normal. Let us pray for those whose don’t have that hope right now. And let us celebrate with those who do.
In Mark, Jesus tells us: “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”
You may be stuck at home with your children or grandchildren for the coming weeks, but never forget they are a gift from God, and the kingdom belongs to them.
May God bless you all.
