Middle East Life Centers
We recently took a small team to the Middle East to meet with the leaders of 7 Life Centers ("LC") that we have launched in this region. Our partners live with war and instability constantly hanging over their heads. However, this instability has allowed us to extend a compassionate and loving hand to the refugees and hurting.
Our primary trip goal was for our Medical, English, Computer and Business leaders to meet their LC counterparts and gather everyone's policies, procedures and guidelines for their practical ministry. We will create a 'Best Practices' guide for our existing LCs and for new ones that we help to launch.
The number of people impacted by our partnership:
Lebanon Life Centers - 12,537 patients + 478 students
Jordan Life Centers - 4,927 patients + 255 students
Syrian Refugee Life Center - 3,319 patients
Total: 21,516 people.
We were able to meet with and brainstorm with our teachers and leaders in all the places in Lebanon where we have our Life Centers. Our team was able to sit in on active English and Computer classes in all these locations.
English Class
We toured a new Life Center building that we helped to purchase for our partner. We were able to move our medical clinic and English and Computer classes to this new, much larger building.
New Classroom
New Medical Exam Room
We flew out to Jordan and also met with all of our Life Center leaders, teachers and medical staff. Our main Life Center was launched in a poorer part of the city where there are many refugees and underprivileged Jordanians. This LC has a Medical clinic, English, Computer, Hairdressing, Sewing, and other vocational skills training. The other 2 LCs are medical only in other parts of the city.
Sewing Class
Medical Exam
We also visited a Syrian refugee camp where we helped to distribute large fans to 100 families that live in 80 tents. The temperatures here can go past 100 degrees in the summer. Some of these families have lived in camps for 10 years with no end in sight. One family was in their home in Syria at the height of the ISIS war 10 years ago when bombs exploded near them and their 6 month old began having seizures. They fled to Jordan and the little girl is now 10 years old, but is partially paralyzed and has major developmental problems due to the war. Our partner has provided a wheelchair to the family, but they need more help. We plan to bring our upcoming medical team to this camp in June.
Refugee Camp Fan Distribution
Refugee Camp Home Visit with Disabled Girl
Lastly, we met with several of our LC doctors who were Iraqi refugees. They shared some heartbreaking stories of fleeing from their homes where militants threatened to kill them and in fact killed some of their colleagues. Traditional Christian doctors are being purposely targeted and forced to flee. This is an incredible tragedy that is simply not being reported. In the meantime, we are doing what we can in the midst of the tragedy.
If you would like to support our Life Center work, please click on the donation button below. We are going to lose some of our Foundation funding in the near future for some of these Life Centers so we hope that you can join us in maintaining the level of compassionate care we are giving now.
God bless,
Jerry