Lebanese NGO “KAYANY” Bags CMA CGM Corporate Foundation 2016 Prize
On Thursday, December 22, the President of CMA CGM Corporate Foundation, Mrs. Naïla Saadé, handed over the 2016 Prize of the Corporate Foundation to Mrs. Nora Joumblatt, founder and president of the NGO “KAYANY” at CMA CGM head office in Beirut.
Founded in 2013, the Lebanese NGO “KAYANY”, which means “my existence”, aims at providing schooling and psychosocial support to the most vulnerable Syrian children refugees in Lebanon.
Since its inception, “Kayany” has been a key player in administering free and accessible schooling to over 3,000 boys and girls, aged between 6 and 14. These children had no access to education and were out of school for more than three years.
In partnership with the Center for Civic Engagement and Community Service (CCECS) of the American University of Beirut, “KAYANY” has built 4 schools for a direct intervention close to refugee camps in the villages of Bar Elias, Majdel Anjar and Saadnayel in the Bekaa valley.
According to the “GHATA” design (portable classrooms) for school campuses approved by the Lebanese Ministry of Social Affairs, these schools with 9 classrooms each, located on lands rented by “KAYANY” from Lebanese owners, are not set up under tents, but built with separation walls and are eco-friendly.
Lebanese and Syrian educators teach children in Arabic and English: arithmetic, mathematics, sciences, languages and geography.
“One school year costs more than 600 dollars per child, excluding staff salaries", says Mrs. Joumblatt, "hence the urgency to get funds from individuals and foundations to ensure the smooth running of the schools”.
“KAYANY” in partnership with the Malala Fund, (a young Pakistani girl who won the Nobel Prize for her fight against ignorance) established and managed a school in Bar Elias (2015), and another school in Saadnayel (2016) for over 300 Syrian girls aged between 14 and 18; to provide them with vocational training (nursing auxiliary, English, computer and sewing).
This training will facilitate their integration in Lebanese public schools and will help them in finding job opportunities.
In 2017, “KAYANY” intends to build a school and a community center for the Lebanese and the Syrians in Mekseh in the Bekaa in partnership with the European Union.
Naïla Saadé, President of CMA CGM Corporate Foundation, declared: “We wanted to honor “KAYANY” for their involvement, since 2013, with the Syrian displaced and refugee children in Lebanon. And, in particular, Mrs. Nora Joumblatt, for her firm determination to save, through Education, a whole generation of deprived children with no access to schooling.”
