Medical Centres in Lebanon

Beirut SOS Social Centre

The SOS Social Centre, Beirut was opened in Mkalles district during the civil war in Lebanon. Its aim is to strengthen families and support orphaned and vulnerable children and their families in order to prevent abandonment. Families receive financial help, skills training and advice and support on health and education.

Update from 2008:

Some 319 families, including 1,085 children and 458 care takers, were supported by the social centre in 2008.

The year was marked by moving the premises of the facility from Mkalles to the first floor of the NCO building in Beirut. The economic crisis was directly reflected by the increasing number of visitors and applications submitted to the centre. The cases that were denied admission because they did not fit the criteria of the Family Strengthening Programme (FSP) were referred to other associations or organisations that are more likely to support them.

Several income generating projects were developed with the families, and they included a sewing machine in the North of Lebanon, a hairdressing salon in the South, the purchase of agricultural materials and one for the (artisanal) conservation of olives in Mount Lebanon. They are all low cost projects that eventually would prevent child abandonment.

The craft workshop and the nine widowed mothers now occupy the ground floor and its mezzanine. There they prepare the crafts they sell at various exhibitions organised in Lebanon.

Ksarnaba SOS Social Centre

The SOS Social Centre, Ksarnaba helps orphaned and vulnerable children and their families in the local community in the Bekaa Valley. It opened in in August 2004. Its aim is to strengthen families and support orphaned and vulnerable children and their families in order to prevent abandonment. Families receive financial help, skills trainingand advice and support on health and education.

Update from 2008:

Some 423 families, including 1,446 children and 707 care givers were supported by the FSP in 2008. To empower the families in their roles as care givers, women awareness programmes were organised all through 2008, focusing on literacy courses, health and nutrition workshops. As for the children, they participated in art workshops and other recreational activities, including the summer camp organised by the centre, as well as activities focusing on children’s rights. Volunteer youth from the community had their share of activities and attended sessions focusing on subjects of interest and benefit to them. The SOS Social Centre also co-operated with UNESCO to establish a multi-purpose education centre for the benefit of the youth in the area.

The mother and child health care unit and the dental clinic were quite active registering 1,086 cases.