Reference of Social Work In The Face of Crises and Disasters Booklets – Part Two
Researcher – Hiam Samaha Kahi
Research Assistant – Aimee Ghanem
Between 1984 and 1988, there was a pioneering experience at the Lebanese Red Cross Centre-Mreijeh by the social worker in charge Mrs. Leila Jaber who gathered around forty field volunteers from the local community, who left their parties and volunteered in the humanitarian relief sector, which soon developed into development work in order to enable individuals and families to cope with the difficult situations left behind by war:
- From distributing bread to families to securing flour, establishing a
- cooperative, providing the supplies of the Saj bread industry in homes, facilitating their sale at the supermarkets and ensuring an additional income to the families.
- From purchasing crutches and distributing them to people with special needs, establishing a cooperative to produce crutches and sell those left: hence the income goes back to those involved.
- From helping children with special needs staying at home to their integration in district schools and urging their families to participate in extracurricular activities and other health care or preventive activities.
It is worth mentioning that this centre was one of the first to launch awareness campaigns to prevent breast cancer and heart diseases.
What was prominent in all those activities was activation of the municipality’s role and urging it to contribute to these projects.