Reference of Social Work In The Face of Crises and Disasters Booklets – Part Two
Researcher – Hiam Samaha Kahi
Research Assistant – Aimee Ghanem
Working with marginalized groups, such as homeless children, those prone to deviation or delinquency, girls exposed to violence and exploitation, and other marginalized groups, constituted a major challenge during the war years. Mrs. Nathalie Chemaly, accepted the challenge and pursued her task through “Dar Al-Amal Association”, particularly through “Al Safa Centres”. She moved around in her work between “Bourj Hammoud, Sin El Fil, Ruwaisat Al-Jdeideh and Dbayeh”. She accompanied the girls and young women where they were living. She said: “The social worker has a rapid ability to adapt to the reality and invent new work methods; this adaptation did not affect the quality of my work; rather, it motivated me…”. She added: “The name of Al Safa centres came from a girl who died in an accident at the time, and her name was Safa.”
She elaborated: “We have to fortify the social work profession and its workers so that we do not collapse under the weight of the significant number of associations that flocked to Lebanon and often dictated different ways of working, not necessarily compatible with our reality.”