Our joy with the four new Perkins Braillers sent to us by BibleLands was spoiled by the unfairness of Lebanese customs at Beirut airport. The courier company handling the clearance of the Braillers informed us that in addition to the clearance charges of US$ 300 the Lebanese customs are demanding customs charges of US$ 600. We strongly objected and informed them that the Braillers are machines used by visually impaired people, and that it was the duty of the Lebanese government to provide them to visually impaired people free of charge. It is ridiculous that instead of doing its duty towards its citizens the Lebanese government is charging customs duties on items for disabled people way above the amount specified by the Lebanese customs law. We also contacted the Ministry of Social Affairs that directed us to a very lengthy bureaucratic process which we did not follow as it would have incurred on us storage charges in Beirut airport much more than the amount customs were demanding. Although we had all the required documents that showed the actual cost of the Braillers and a letter from BibleLands stating that they are a gift to our school, all our objections yielded no positive outcome. On the contrary more ridiculous paper work was demanded. We had to accept the bitter fact and pay the unfair customs charges.
We received an email from Jennie Watts of BibleLands updating us on the grant they kindly donated to BLESSED for new Braillers. As we are unable to locally buy the UK built brand that our teachers and students insist on having, we wrote to our friends at BibleLands asking for and extra favor. We suggested that they use the grant to buy the Braillers in the UK, and that our BibleLands partners bring the machines with them, one at a time, when they travel to Lebanon through the coming years. BibleLands answer came very promptly. Jennie Watts wrote: "I have arranged for 4 of these Braillers to be couriered to BLESSED, hopefully within the next couple of weeks. They cost GBP 425 (each), and the freight was just over GBP 200. Mo and I thought it made sense to make full use of the size and weight limit in the freight charge, and so we have added a small grant to the donation from the supporter. That is why all 4 of these Braillers are being sent to you." This is typical BibleLands kindness! We praise God and express our most sincere gratitude to BibleLands, to Jennie Watts and Mo Burnley, for being such wonderful true friends to BLESSED. This summer we are offering a two-week course in September for our students who need to work on their Braille. We only have one new Brailler (Jumbo type). All our other Braillers are ten to fifteen years old. The new Braillers from BibleLands are a very timely gift indeed.
Thursday June 24 was the day for the end of year program for our children. They had been preparing for many days with their teachers. It was time for them to celebrate the end of the academic year with their parents. With lots of music, song, dance, and pantomime; the children proved their wonderful talents. The smiles and excitement made it a special day. Friday June 25 was the last day of school when everyone in the afternoon went home for the long summer holiday. Mrs. Leila Harb and her family and friends prepared a special lunch for that day which the students and children enjoyed. We express our thanks to them all.
Children of the St. Luke's program will come back for two weeks in September for a special program of activities and school trips. Students of the Bartimaeus program will have a two week summer course in September to improve on their Braille. Teachers and members of staff started summer hours in July working from 9.00 AM till 1.00 PM. August is the summer holiday, and in September we will also follow summer office hours. The new academic year 2004/2005 will start on Monday October 4.
Ladies of the American Women's Club donated a 34 inch TV (Haier 34F8A-T) with stand (table) and a DVD player (Funai Digital DVD-LDV-200) to our school. They asked us what we needed, and we informed them that we needed a second TV set for our boarding department. We plan to put up a partition in our huge lounge this summer. One part will be used by children of our St. Luke's program and the other by students of our Bartimaeus program. This will make life easier for our volunteers as children will no more be using the lounge in our guest flat to watch TV in the evenings. The television with its stand and the DVD player were delivered on Thursday 17 of June. We express our sincere gratitude to the kind ladies of the American Women's Club in Beirut for this wonderful gift.
After a very fruitful ministry at BLESSED for six months, Leonard left for the summer holiday on 15 June 2004 early in the morning . Students of our Bartimaeus program prepared a farewell party the evening of June 14. All are delighted that Leonard is coming back for another year. Although the previous week was not an easy one, with exams and results, everything ended well with smiles and friendly faces at last. We praise God for Leonard's wonderful contribution to our school. We express our most sincere gratitude to him, to his church, the Windsor Baptist church - Belfast, to his family and friends, and to everyone who is supporting him in this wonderful ministry.
Grade Five of the Lebanese Evangelical School in Ain Zhalta, accompanied by the principal of the school Mrs. Nicola Alexander, and two teachers: Mr. Philip Stockwell and Mr. Robert Eaton, visited BLESSED on Wednesday June 9, 2004. They went around our school seeing the classrooms and workshops of both our programs. They later returned to the bakery to try some of our scones and bread. The students were interested and asked many questions. They interacted with our children and students. We express our thanks to Mrs. Alexander, Mr. Stockwell, Mr. Eaton, and the students for their kind visit.
We received wonderful news from Barbara Shaw,
Regional manager for the Middle East CMS (Church Mission Society) of a
very kind donation of GBP 2,000. We received this news just when we
thought that we would not be able to do the bakery extension which was
requested by Leonard. The one room allocated for the bakery is not
spacious enough. The fact that our students are visually impaired, and
that three or more people work in the bakery at the same time revealed
that the space is too small. All equipment, utensils, and ingredients need
to be spread over a large area, for our visually impaired people to be
able to locate them with no help from a sighted person. We immediately
realized we needed more space and an extra steel table to also increase
the working area. We praise God for CMS's timely donation which will
enable us to build this extension in summer. God continues to shower his
blessings on us through our kind Christian partners, and his perfect
timing makes us feel so small. It is his work no doubt, and it is a great
privilege to be continuously experiencing his wonderful providence. We
express our most sincere gratitude to CMS, and we praise God for all his
wonderful blessings.
A thanksgiving service for one hundred and fifty years of wonderful and dedicated Christian service by BibleLands in our land was held on Thursday June 3, 2004 in the Beirut Evangelical Church. Children and participants from all the partner institutions participated through ecumenical song, prayer and bible readings. The choir of Trad Social Centre School was exceptional good. Baroness Cathleen Richardson, Miss Mo Burnley, Rev. Daniel Burton, and a group of 31 persons from the U.K. who are on a pilgrimage visit to Lebanon also attended the service. Baroness Richardson read a message from Hugh Boelter who, for health reasons, could not be with the group. She then spoke on behalf of BibleLands conveying greetings and a message of encouragement and hope to all the partners. Rev. Daniel Burton preached a challenging sermon urging partners to develop their ministries in new ways in order to support continued Christian witness in our land, in full harmony and tolerance of Islam. Mr. Nadim Shwayri of Al_kafaat gave a lengthy and emotional testimony of his long partnership with BibleLands. A reception followed in the Church Hall.
We received wonderful news form Jennie Watts of BibleLands of a kind donation to our school of GBP 1,000. This donation will be used to buy two manual Braillers which we very badly need. We express our sincere gratitude to BibleLands for this very kind donation and for their continued prayer and support.
The 30th of April was Leonard's Birthday, so students of our Bartimaeus program gathered in the morning to celebrate. Everyone sang happy birthday to Leonard, then he cut the cake and everyone had a very good time. A Very Happy Birthday Leonard!
The ecumenical bible study group that meets at the house of Mrs. Sarkissian, wife of Rev. Sarkissian of the French Protestant Church in Beirut, visited BLESSED on Friday 30th of April. They attended the chapel service which was lead by Leonard. They later had coffee with students of our Bartimaeus program, and then visited the bakery and bought some scones and biscuits. They also visited classrooms of the St. Luke's program. We express our thanks to the group for their visit and kind donation to our school. We also express our thanks to the French Protestant Church for another kind donation sent to us with Mrs. Sarkissian.
Rev. Pascal Hickel and his wife Michele accompanied by a youth group from their church visited our school on Tuesday April 27. They arrived for morning chapel and later went around the school visiting classrooms and workshops of both our programs. Children of the St. Luke's program welcomed them with a song, and they responded by singing a song in four languages. They had lunch with students of our Bartimaeus program and spent valuable time interacting with them. We express our thanks to Rev. Ernest Reichert of ACO (Action Chretienne EnOrient) for being the link person with St. Matthew's Church - Strasbourg - France, and to Rev. Pascal and Mrs. Michele Hickel and the youth group of their church for their visit and their kind donation to our school.
Dr. Perry Shaw sent us a cheque for the amount of US $ 1,716.73 which is a donation from MECO (Middle East Christian Outreach). This fund will go towards one of our upcoming projects: either adding a sound proof divider in our lounge, or buying a loaf cutter for our bakery. Both projects are badly needed. We express our sincere gratitude to our MECO partners and friends for their support and prayer.
A three member delegation from CLCA (Christian Lebanese Canadian Association) headed by Mr. Murr visited our school on Thursday April 22, 2004 to deliver a cheque for the amount of 1000 $ (one thousand Canadian Dollars). They went around the school and visited some of our classrooms and workshops. We express our sincere gratitude to the Christian Lebanese Canadian Association, to Mr. Murr, and especially to Rev. Istifan who was the link with CLCA enabling us to receive this very kind donation.
Children were delighted to find Vicky Leadbitter at school after they returned from the Easter holiday. They all remembered her with shouts of joy and warm hugs. Fares shouted her name clearly: VICKY and ran to give her a very big hug. She brought many items with her from the UK for our classrooms and some educational items for the children. The most popular was the bubbles machine which the children very much enjoyed. It was wonderful to have Vicky at BLESSED a year after she return home after two years of very kind and dedicated service as a CMS mission volunteer. She returned to the UK on Friday April 23 . We express our thanks to Vicky for her visit and for all the wonderful things she brought with her for our children.
Having spent Wednesday the 14th of April on the beach, Leonard's mother and sister returned home early in the morning on Thursday April 15, 2004. We were delighted with their visit and express our thanks to them for bringing from the UK the heavy metal scale (weighing machine) for the bakery and for their kind donation to our school.
Tuesday April 13 was the day for the Campbells to visit the Bikaa valley. They traveled first to the magnificent site of Baal beck and visited the Roman temples and the museums. When they visited the temple of Bacchus there was also a French choir visiting which decided to test the acoustics of the temple, so they heard two nice tenors sing and then the whole coir sang. It was a wonderful addition to the visit. They then traveled to the West Bikaa saw the bird reserve in the area of the Ammik Swamps and finally visited the Litany lake. It was a wonderful day with so much natural beauty to be remembered.
Vicky Leadbitter, the CMS mission volunteer who worked at BLESSED for two years, came back for a visit. She arrived on Monday April 12. She will catch up with some friends and spend a few days with our children after they return from the Easter holiday. It is wonderful to have Vicky back at BLESSED even if it is only for a few days.
The Campbells started Monday April 12 with a visit to the historic site of the Dog River valley. It is an outdoor museum of ancient inscriptions on lime rocks which date back from 1200 BC to more recent times reflecting the history of Lebanon. They then visited the famous grotto of Jeita visiting both the upper grotto on foot, and the lower grotto by boat. Following that they traveled up the mountain range overlooking the city of Jounieh to Harrissa where they visited several churches. Later on in the afternoon they went to Byblos visiting the ancient Crusader castle and the historic site around it. They walked through the old souk to the old sea castle and enjoyed the beautiful sea view on an especially beautiful spring day. They returned to BLESSED quite exhausted having toured four of the most important tourist sites in Lebanon in just one day.
Leonard prepared a surprise birthday party for Angela his sister. Having spent Saturday April 10 visiting Sidon and Tyre, all returned to BLESSED. There was more prepared for that day. Students from the Bartimaeus program started arriving to school to meet Leonard's Mother and sister and to celebrate Angela's birthday. Leonard walked in with the birthday cake and everyone sang Happy Birthday to Angela followed by the Arabic version. Everyone had great fun, and students of the bakery program expressed their sincere appreciation for Leonard's work with them. They also told many funny stories from their work at the bakery and imitated Leonard's Arabic and each other. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANGELA from everyone at BLESSED.
The Easter holiday which started on Wednesday afternoon April 7 was a special one for Leonard. His mother, Mrs. Myrtle Campbell, and his sister, Angela, traveled from Belfast to spend the holiday with him. They were met by Leonard and Suheil at the airport. They stayed until Thursday April the 15th.
Ruth McKelvey visited BLESSED for a few days in April 2004. She arrived early in the morning on Wednesday 7 April. She had previously served as a short term volunteer in the Evangelical School of Ain Zhalta, and was the person to inform Leonard about our school's need for someone with his qualifications. She was able to see Leonard's wonderful work first hand and was especially interested in our St. Luke's program for children with special needs as she is involved in this type of ministry. We were finally able to thank her for sending Leonard our way. We also express our thanks to her for her kind donation to our school.
Rev. Nigel Schibild, vicar of All Saints' Anglican Church (International Congregation), visited BLESSED on Monday April 5, 2004. He lead the morning chapel service and spoke about Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. He later went around the school to see the changes that took place since his last visit. He came to bid us all farewell as he and Linda are leaving Lebanon after five years of dedicated and faithful ministry. Nigel and Linda have been true friends of our school and everyone was sad to be saying goodbye to them. We express our most sincere gratitude to both of them for their friendship and support of our school, and we pray that God may bless them with yet another successful ministry in the U.K.
Grade 10 A (Special) of LESBG (The Lebanese Evangelical School for Boys and Girls - Louweizeh), accompanied by their teacher Mrs. Muriel Aoun, visited Leonard's Bakery on Friday March 26. They first visited the bakery and observed Leonard and his students do their work, they then went around our school seeing the classrooms and workshops of both our programs. They later returned to the bakery to buy scones and bread. Although Leonard had prepared a special order of scones, students of Grade 10 A bought all the scones in addition to bread and other items. Leonard had to make a second batch of scones for the special order. The students were observant and interested. They were very kind to our children and students and interacted well with them. We express our thanks to Mrs. Aoun and her students for their kind visit.
Solarco delivered on it promise to donate the kitchen extraction hood to BLESSED. It was delivered on Tuesday March 16. They had an additional surprise for us. They also decided to grant us a 50% discount on installation charges and parts. It took two days to install and finally the work was finished on March 23. Our building is finally free from the smell of frying oil and cooking. We express our most sincere gratitude to Solarco and Messrs Jreidini and Basha for their kind generosity and Christian charity. We praise God for his wonderful love that works through friends and partners to meet all our needs.
Tuesday March 16 was the day for introducing students of LESBG (the Lebanese Evangelical School for Boys & Girls in Louweizeh) to the cakes, pastries, and breads of Leonard's Bakery. Leonard and his students worked tirelessly for many days in preparation for this day. The day started with the BLESSED group leading the two chapel services. Two presentations were shown to the students to introduce them to BLESSED and Leonard's Bakery. A hymn was sung followed by a bible reading by Tony from John 6.1-15. Leonard gave an excellent meditation on the passage, and finally Randa concluded with prayer. We were well received by the very kind and enthusiastic students. During the recess they were offered scones, biscuits, and coconut fingers free of charge. We also sold all the bakery products we had for sale in addition to some woolen and cane items. We express our most sincere gratitude to Dr. Stephen White, the school principal, for his warm welcome and strong support of BLESSED. We also thank the teachers and students of LESBG for a very successful and wonderful day. We also want to especially thank Leonard for his hard work and tireless dedication.
After a careful study of the different offers we received for a new photocopying machine, and in consultation with our head office and the LES Services Department, we decided to buy the Canon iR2200 machine. Although it is more expensive than other machines we decided to learn from the experience of sister LES schools and follow their advice. The machine is top of the line. It will provide us with reliable and economical service for many years to come. It was delivered to school on Monday March 15. We praise God for the kindness and generosity of our friends and partners at "DONOR" that allowed us to finally purchase this very much needed machine, and we express to them our most sincere gratitude.
March 9 is Teacher's Day in Lebanon. As an expression of gratitude to our teachers parents of our children brought cakes and local sweets. We had the celebration early in the afternoon. Rev. George Haddad thanked the teachers for the wonderful work they are doing. The children thanked the teachers by singing "Happy Birthday", then everyone enjoyed the delicious cakes and sweets. We express our thanks to all the parents for their kind gesture on this occasion.
After so much difficulty with the electricity mains of our building which was causing the circuit breaker to continuously trip, we applied to the local company: Electricite du Liban to increase the main power supply. Having paid the expensive fee required, the technicians finally came to BLESSED on March 3 and installed new cables and a 60 AMP meter. We also asked them to fix the main electricity cables which are a few meters from our building. These cables were faulty and were always displaying spectacular fireworks every time it rained. They also kindly fixed them. We are now able to operate the bakery without having to stop everything else. Randa can now start using the dishwasher in the evenings. This will ease off some of her work. We can also use the dryer on rainy days. Edmond will finally have some peace now as he no more needs to continuously go up and down the stairs to reconnect the main power supply.
Our LES (Lebanese Evangelical Society) head office informed us of a very kind donation to our school from "DONOR" totaling U.S.$ 3500. The donation will be used to buy a photocopying machine which we badly need. We praise God for this timely donation. Our old photocopying machine stopped working last week. We express our most sincere gratitude to our friends and partners at "DONOR".
Children of our St. Luke's program went for snow trips on February 26 and 27. As our school bus can only seat 15 people we had to divide them into two groups. Both days were lovely warm days so the children had lots of fun playing with the snow. They were then driven down to a green dry spot where they had a picnic lunch. They returned to school in the afternoon greatly refreshed.
Friday March 6 was the day for students of our Bartimaeus program to go for a snow trip. Although it was a glorious day, it started with students presenting excuses to avoid the trip. They all boarded the bus though with great reluctance from some. The destination was Farayyah El-Mazar, a lovely skiing area in Mount Lebanon. The songs and fun along the way oiled the rusty squeaking wheels with which we started our day. We finally got to the snow, and with great effort, aided by Suheil and Leonard, we finally had everyone off the bus and on the snow. Snow fun started to catch on, aided by the effect of high heels on 80 to 100 cm of packed snow. As it had to be a very special day we decided to rent a snow mobile to have all our students enjoy a ride behind Suheil. To our delight Mr. Hadi Nakhoul of The Empty Helmet (Skiing Equipment Rental) decided to provide us with a snow mobile free of charge the moment he realized it will be used for visually impaired persons. He also sent along an assistant. Suheil's first effort got him stuck downhill, but the assistant ran to his rescue and soon Suheil was taking one student after the other for a quick ride on the snow mobile. With great reluctance we left Farayya and headed back to Beirut. On the way we stopped for lunch at McDonalds in Kasleek. McDonalds kindly offered desert free of charge to all our students after lunch. The trip to McDonalds was part of a mobility lesson. We then headed back to school greatly refreshed and delighted, all finally acknowledging their great happiness they did not miss the trip. We express our thanks to Suheil Jabbour and Leonard Campbell for their heroic effort during the trip, and we express our most sincere gratitude to Mr. Hadi Nakhoul of Empty Helmet (Skiing Equipment Rental), and to McDonalds restaurant - Kasleek for their wonderful kindness.
An international group from the Bible Society visited BLESSED on Friday January 30, 2004. They gave a presentation that delighted all our children and students. They spent time knowing our children and students and their visit was highly appreciated. We express our gratitude to the Bible Society and every member of the group for the great fun our children and students had and for the valuable message they presented.
Mrs. Barakat, the grandmother of one of our students, kindly presented us with a cheque from General Antoin Barakat Foundation for the amount of US $ 500. We highly appreciate this very kind gesture towards our school, and we express our sincere gratitude to the Barakats and the Khawajas for their wonderful and continued support of our school. The money will go towards installing a partition in the student lounge.
Rev. and Mrs. Schibild of the International Congregation of All Saints' Anglican Church in Beirut suggested that we send a team from our school on a Sunday morning to sell some of our workshop items. Randa Madani, Leonard Campbell, and Suheil Jabour took items from both our wool and cane workshops in addition to bread and scones from Leonard's bakery. They went to All Saints' Church on Sunday January 11. They were very kindly received and sold a lot of the items they had and all the bread and scones. Mr. Peter Speldewinde and Mrs. Peggy O'Neill surprised us with a very kind donation of one thousand U.S. dollars. We praise God for their Christian charity and love and for the friendship and support of Rev. and Mrs. Schibild and the International congregation of All Saints' Anglican church. Thank you Nigel, Linda, Peter, Peggy, and everyone at All Saints'. May God bless you all.
Leonard Campbell returned to BLESSED early Saturday morning January 3. The new year could not have started in a better way for our students. Everyone was delighted to see Leonard again and the bakery program was restarted, this time for six months of training. We express our gratitude to Leonard's church, the Windsor Baptist Church - Belfast, MECO, and to his family and friends, for supporting him and enabling him to be with us.
Friday 19 December was the day for our Christmas celebration. Students and children have been preparing for many weeks and finally they were ready to perform. We started with hymns and lessons by students of the Baritmaeus program then children of the St. Luke's program performed songs and dances. Finally Santa arrived to give each child a present. One mother brought an additional present to each child, and another kindly donated $200 to the school. Among our guests were the girls and boys of Grade 11 of B.E.S.G.B. (Beirut Evangelical School for Girls and Boys) who kindly donated food supplies to our school, and also a group form Life Agape - Lebanon who kindly brought gifts to students and staff of our Bartimaeus program. We express our thanks to Ms Butheina Rizkallah, the girls and boys of Grade 11 of B.E.S.G.B. and the Life Agape group for thinking of our school this Christmas and for their kind gifts.
We received word that our partners and friends at "DONOR" sent us a donation of U.S.$ 2,000. We will use it for buying a new photocopying machine which we badly need. As our program for children with special needs is activity oriented, we do a lot of photocopying and our very old machine is in a very bad condition. Our teachers are delighted with this wonderful news as they were the ones who had to deal with the daily disappointments of the old machine. It will also help us a lot with our office work. We express our sincere gratitude to our partners and friends at "DONOR" for their dedicated support of our school, and we praise God for Christian charity and love.
Our school participated in the Holiday Bazaar 2003 organized by the American Women's Club of Lebanon at the Beirut Coral Beach Hotel on December 7, 2003. We were able to display products from our workshops made by children of the St. Luke's program and students of the Bartimaeus program. We sold many items. Randa and Suheil were at our table all day. We express our gratitude to AWC of Lebanon for organizing this bazaar.
Mr. Murray Pillner, MECO representative in New Zealand visited BLESSED on Wednesday November 12. He was visiting Lebanon for the first time and it was an opportunity for us to show him our school and the adjustments in our building which we were able to implement through MECO funding. We are thankful to our partnership with MECO and we hope that it will be developed into full involvement in our ministry through short or long term volunteers.
Lady Kathleen Richardson and Miss Mo Burnley of BibleLands visited BLESSED on Thursday November 6. The day was started with a chapel service of thanksgiving and praise. Children of our St. Luke's program and students of our Bartimaeus program attended to welcome our friends and partners from BibleLands and thank them for their very kind support. It was a special time for us as we were able to show them the wonderful transformation in our building that was achieved through BibleLands' generous support. They later went around the school and saw all the BibleLands' sponsored projects, including the gymnasium, the Soft play-room, the Sensory Room, the Life Skills classroom, and other adjustments in our building. It was a great honor for us to have Lady Richardson, one of BibleLands' patrons, and also Mo who is to us a member of the family. We praise God for our very special relationship with BibleLands. BibleLands was instrumental in helping us make the turn from near closure a few years ago to a very successful ministry bringing glory to the precious name of our loving Lord.
Miss Therese Khoury and Rev. George Haddad attended the BibleLands' partners conference which was held in Al-Kafaat on Wednesday October 29. Partners were invited for lunch which was professionally served at Le Lyonnaise Restaurant of Al-Kafaat. A forum for discussion followed. It began with a bible meditation given by the new Director of BibleLands Mr. Nigel Edward-Few concluded with a period of open prayers. Then BibleLands’ new Chairman Mr. Hugh Boulter chaired the discussion about the needs of Lebanon, how partners as local organizations are seeking to achieve God's calling to them to serve him in this land, and how BibleLands can best serve partners, going beyond partnership into a closer relationship. Preparations for BibleLands' 150th anniversary were also discussed, and an ad hoc committee in Lebanon will be planning for special celebrations of praise and thanksgiving to include all project partners. It is a special privilege for us as partners who have been on the receiving end of BibleLands 150 Years of Healing and Hope to rejoice and thank God for the many blessed years of Christian love in Action. Miss Mo Burnley with other BibleLands friends will be visiting BLESSED next week. We look forward to that visit with great enthusiasm as they will be able to see the wonderful transformation they enabled us to achieve, helping us better serve our visually impaired students and our challenged children.
Students of our Bartimaeus program went for a trip to the Barook Cedar Reserve on Thursday October 23. The group first went to the Evangelical School of Ain Zhalta where they were kindly received. Mrs. Nicola Alexander, the school principal, and the boys and girls of Grade Six accompanied our students to the reserve. A guide presented valuable information about the variety of wildlife in it. Then the boys and girls of Grade six accompanied our students along the walk in the reserve. Everyone had a wonderful time and the boys and girls did exceptionally well in guiding our students. They later returned to school and our group had another stop in Ain Zhalta for a second walk this time in the pine woods, where they also had a picnic lunch. Our students had plenty of exercise and a lot of fun, and all returned well refreshed but some quite exhausted. We express our thanks to Mrs. Nicola Alexander and the girls and boys of Grade Six of the Ain Zhalta Evangelical School for the wonderful time our students had with them.
Monday October 13 was the first day of the new academic year for students of the Bartimaeus program. The final touches were made on our new dormitory for visually impaired girls, and our students were delighted with the new adjustments in our building. The extra beds in the girls dormitory were all taken and the girls are overjoyed with their new private facilities. The boys are equally happy as they can now use the facilities the girls were using last year. We still need to order extra cupboards for the additional girls room. In the meantime some of girls are sharing cupboards and others had to make do with an old one. Through this week the individual program for every student will be worked out and eventually the whole program will start rolling smoothly. It is a very busy time of year, but praise God, it is a very joyful one as well.
Wednesday October 8 was the first day of the Academic Year 2003/2004 for children of our St. Luke's program. Children arrived on time and were happy to see their teachers and friends after the long summer holiday. New students blended in very well having attended the summer program held in August. A chapel service was held at 10:30 AM and children were very eager to sing together again and enjoy music and storytelling. It was an exceptionally good day. The only sad thing was our inability to welcome all the children whose parents wanted them to be in our school as we already have reached the maximum number that our building and program can accommodate. We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful group of children in addition to our dedicated team of teachers and members of staff. Last year we were able to employ a speech therapist who comes to BLESSED two days a week to provide our children with speech therapy, and this year we are happy to report to you that we added a clinical psychologist to our team, Miss Sandra Azar. She will come one day a week to provide our children and students with the professional care they may need. Our kitchen looks beautiful now with its ceramic tiled walls. It certainly is much more hygienic as well. Our workshops and roof should not give us damp problems anymore. We already had an inspection by a representative of the ministry of social affairs who visited our school on Monday October 6th. We were delighted to show her that we have met all the requirements set in the ministry's report last year. We express our sincere gratitude to all our Christian partners and friends, and we especially thank MECO, CMS, Mr. Khalil Younes, and the Frarah Foundation who enabled us to implement these projects. Praise God! and thank you very much.
Although the contractor started work on our current project efficiently, later days revealed the opposite. Work teams did not arrive for work quite a few days, and the contractor was unable to meet the date target set for finishing the project. The opening of school for the new academic year 2003/2004 had to be postponed. Children of our St. Luke's program will start school on Wednesday October 8, and students of the Bartimaeus program will start school on Monday October 13. We apologize to all the parents of our children and to all our students.
Having received the OK from L E S to start work on the dormitory project for visually impaired girls, BLESSED was transformed on Monday September 22 into a hub of construction work. The contractor arrived with his teams of workers on time and the project got a very encouraging start. The work also included tiling the kitchen walls and treating the damp problem in the roof of our building and in our workshops. With this project the adjustments needed in our building to accommodate both our programs was completed. We praise God for this wonderful achievement, and we express our sincere gratitude to our partners and friends for their generosity and very kind support.
We received a very kind donation from the Farah Foundation of US$ 1500. This donation is earmarked for the Bartimaeus Program for visually impaired person. We express our gratitude to Dr. Fouad Farah and Mrs. Mona Farah for their donation and continued support of our school. We also express our gratitude to Mr. Antoin Gideon for sending us a donation of US$ 100.
Leonard Campbell returned home Saturday morning 29 August having spent a whole month at BLESSED training visually impaired students to operate the bakery. Although our students knew Leonard was coming back in January 2004 to continue the bakery training program, everyone was sad to see him leave. Through his Christian dedication and loving service he turned our pioneer bakery project into a true success story. The only complaint we received was from people gaining weight as a consequence of eating the delicious breads and scones under Leonard's leadership. In gratitude to his very important roll in fulfilling our vision we decided to name our bakery: Leonard's Bakery. We all look forward to his return next year. We express our sincere thanks to him personally, to his family and friends, to his church: the Windsor Baptist Church - Belfast, and to MECO for facilitating his wonderful ministry at BLESSED. We praise God for our wonderful Christian faith that makes young believers leave home, family, and friends, to come and serve our Lord Jesus Christ in our land.
Our summer program (Colonie de Vacances) for children with special needs began on Monday 18 August. The first day was mainly for welcoming the children back and helping them settle in. Later in the afternoon they went to the nearby Syoufie Park. On the second day they went for a school trip and visited Jeata grotto and Byblos. The morning of the third day was spent walking around the neighborhood of Achrafieh, and the rest of the day children had activities at school. Thursday they went to the beach and Saturday they went to the Chouf area and visited Beit Ed-Deen and Deir El-Kamar. During the second week children visited the factories of Liban Lait (dairy products) and Mimosa (tissue paper products) in the Bikaa valley. They also visited the water park of Rio Lento in the Matn region, Harissa, Ballouneh park, and Ajaltoon small zoo. A kind friend of our school invited all our children for lunch at Burger King on Thursday 28 August. Friday was the last day and children returned home after two weeks on interesting activities. We express our gratitude to all the people who welcomed our children into their places, sites and factories.
After two weeks of hard work in the bakery, it was time for a school trip. On Saturday August 16, 2003 Leonard, his students, and a few sighted volunteers visited the ancient sites of Anjar and Baalbeck in the Bikaa valley of Lebanon. The group had a picnic lunch in Baalbeck after a very interesting day of walking around the sights, feeling the stone work and the ancient ruins, and learning about those historic sites.
Mr. Khalil Younes (Atlanta - USA) surprised us with a very kind donation of US$ 2004.00 (two thousand and four United States Dollars) earmarked towards the Bartimaeus Program. He was surfing the net and reached our website from which he got our news and the information he needed to contact us and transfer the donation. He is the grandson of a former student of our school of the same name. We were greatly encouraged with Mr. Younes' generous donation. It will go towards the visually impaired girls dormitory project. We express our most sincere thanks to Mr. Khalil Younes for his very kind donation. The fact that it is coming from a grandson of one of our former students makes it a very special one indeed.
The Bakery Training Program in August 2003 was a
great success. The first few days were for preparation of equipment,
cleaning, getting the necessary ingredients, and testing a few mixes, then
training started. Leonard's skills were immediately noticeable, and his
dedication, patience, and wonderful Christian character made him ideal for
the job. He worked with six visually impaired persons who were unanimously
saying: "Thank God for Leonard's wonderful character and great skills". He
immediately took to training visually impaired people. The Beirut hot and
humid August weather did not seem to bother him. He also lead the
chapel service on Wednesdays and all went so well, much better than
all our expectations. We praise God for Leonard Campbell and the wonderful
work he did at BLESSED. We express our gratitude to Leonard's church,
the Windsor Baptist Church - Belfast, and to his family and friends, for
supporting him and enabling him to be with us. The bakery equipment was kindly donated by
the Rotary Foundation: RC Beirut Cosmopolitan Rotary Club, and the Rotary
Club of Royal Oak, Michigan, USA.
We received a very kind donation of £ 2000 from the Church Mission Society. The donation will go towards the visually impaired girls dormitory project. We need to build facilities and make adjustments in our building to accommodate more visually impaired girls. We express our sincere gratitude to CMS for this generous donation and their continued support of our school. Through our partnership with CMS we were able to achieve a lot. Mission volunteers from the Make A Difference Program of CMS contributed enormously to our program. The new vision for our school was set during a visit of our principal, Rev. George D. Haddad, to the U.K. in June 2001, kindly arranged by CMS. Barbara Shaw, Regional manager for the Middle East, is trying to send us volunteers to continue the wonderful ministry Debi Calvert and Vicky Leadbitter started in our school. We hope and pray that God will lead people to come and serve with us at BLESSED bringing glory to his precious name.
Rev. Dr. Issa Diab, director of LES informed us that our partners, Middle East Christian Outreach, sent us a kind donation of US$ 3347. The donation will go towards making adjustments in our building to enable us to receive more visually impaired girls next year. We will add extra facilities during the summer holiday in order to have one additional bedroom for visually impaired girls. We express our sincere gratitude to our partners and friends at MECO, and we praise God for meeting all our needs.
After the difficulty "DONOR" were having with our previous email address we now have a new one. The new email address which we kindly ask you to use is: blessed@lesociety.org
blessed1@cyberia.net.lb is now reserved for our mission volunteers.
PLEASE NOTE THAT OUR OLD EMAIL ADDRESS: lesblind@cyberia.net.lb IS NO MORE IN USE. PLEASE DO NOT USE IT.