Friends of Mar Elias

Mar Elias is a small refugee camp located in Lebanon near Beirut airport. It was originally founded in 1952 with the objective of taking in Palestinian refugees from the region of Galilee. However, due to the standstill of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the war in Syria, it is currently inhabited by Syrian and Palestinian refugees as well as underprivileged Lebanese families. In 2002, an official census estimated that 1.406 people live in the camp. Nevertheless, these figures might not be significant if we do not take into consideration the intensification of the refugee crisis and the fact that most families have on average five kids. 


Today, the wealth of the families relies on temporary jobs such as physical labor for men, and cleaning jobs or the textile industry for women. The camp suffers from high unemployment, and the very few jobs that are available are unstable. The infrastructures, especially the sewage system, are in major need of rehabilitation. In addition to this, the streets are narrow and of low quality, and the suffocating heat causes a constant stench. According to UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East), the population of the camp has a high percentage of chronic disease like cancer, diabetes and hypertension. But, the worst is that the camp does not have a school. Thus, the kids are forced to take a bus in order to receive an education. This, alongside the uniform, is preventing the kids from going to school. Although these costs may be considered low for many, most of these families cannot afford to pay for the bus ticket and the uniform. It is a tiny amount of money that makes the difference between progress and stagnation. Education is the seed of hope for this camp. In other words, education is our strongest weapon to combat the spiral of poverty that has haunted this region for many years.  



In the summer of 2018, two friends, Nadim and Pablo, worked as volunteers in the Mar Elias camp. Having listened to the moving testimonies of the refugee families, they realized the importance of getting the kids to school. They decided to start the project Friends of Mar Elias. The project’s objective is to raise the necessary funds to pay for the school bus and uniform of 35 boys and girls in the camp. This cost is a huge sacrifice for their families, but for us it does not represent too much of a complication. For this reason, Nadim and Pablo created this charity project with a clear aim and amazing benefits. They had the chance to meet each one of the kids, boys and girls with dreams who aspire to be teachers, doctors and football players, but if we fail to help them, they will be left with an uncertain future.