Our NGO just.childhood and its reformatory kindergarten project Bait al-Shams (House of the Sun) is dedicated to the children of Shatila Refugee Camp in Lebanon. We believe that education can break the cycle of poverty and lack of rights.
In a nutshell, just.childhood is dedicated to the children of Shatila Refugee Camp in Lebanon. The idea of establishing our kindergarten Bait al-Shams was born out of the needs of the community. We are passionate about giving the wonderful children of Shatila and their parents a future of better possibilities and hope. As many others, we truly believe that education is one of the most important pillars of development as it is a chance to break the cycle of poverty and lack of rights. What you quickly learn is that Palestinians in Lebanon are denied a past as well as a future. For example, Palestinian children are only under certain circumstances admitted to Lebanese public schools. If accepted, however, they often are discriminated against both by their fellow students as well as teachers. Alternatively, most children enroll in schools run by the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA). For visiting one of these schools it is essential to visit a kindergarten as reading and writing skills are expected when entering school. UNRWA itself does not run kindergartens in Shatila.
