Holy See teams up with Caritas Lebanon to care for Syrian refugee children
(Vatican Radio) The Pontifical Council Cor Unum, the Pope’s charity office, Caritas
Lebanon and Italy’s premier children’s hospital, Bambin Gesu’ have teamed up to provide
medical care for Syrian refugee children in Lebanon. Introducing the initiative at
the Holy See press office Wednesday, Cor Unum President Cardinal Robert Sarah said
this joint project with Holy See institutions aims to help between 3 and 4 thousand
children in its early stages.
And as we near Christmas, a period in which “consumerism
unfortunately surpasses” the announcement of Christ’s birth, Cardinal Sarah said,
“we feel that the most beautiful gift we can give to help children suffering from
the Syrian conflict is to help them recover their smile and to help them continue
to live, accompanying them to grow” not just materially but also and above all on
a spiritual and human level.
Speaking to Tracey McClure ahead of his official
ordination as Monsignor next week, Fr. Simon Faddoul, the President of Caritas Lebanon,
reflected on Pope Francis’ first Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium released
November 26th. In that document, Pope Francis urges care for the weakest
members of society: “the homeless, the addicted, refugees, indigenous peoples and
the elderly (who) are increasingly isolated and abandoned and migrants,” for whom
the Pope exhorts “a generous openness.”
Fr. Faddoul suggests Lebanon has
been more than generous in opening up to Syrian refugees flowing over the border from
the conflict. He cites the U.N. refugee agency U.N.H.C.R. which says about some 820,000
Syrian refugees have registered with them in Lebanon. He suggests, however, that
this figure is misleading. “The Lebanese government says about 1.2 million refugees
are currently in the country.” But because of all those Syrians who avoid official
border crossings and come over illegally, he says, that number is likely to be as
high as 1.5 million.
That’s more than a quarter of Lebanon’s 4 million strong
population. “It’s almost 30% of the total population” says Faddoul. The enormous
pressure that this influx is placing on the struggling Lebanese economy, he adds,
means that “the impacts are huge, so great on the people themselves, the refugees
themselves, but also on the Lebanese population in general. On the children, on women,
on families, on the host communities all together…in every aspect you can think of”
Caritas Lebanon operates ten medical and social centers which offer health
care and social services to Lebanese and Syrians alike, plus thirteen mobile clinics.
Four of these, he explains, are dedicated to the Syrian refugees. They tour the country
to help the refugees and provide medicine, general medical care, and pediatric and
gynecological consultations. “Our main target,” he says, is women and children” and
general medicine is mostly for the elderly and the family.
More than 55%
of the refugees present in Lebanon are under the age of 17. “The last count was about
400,000 children,” he says, observing that 70% of the families are headed by women,
placing grave responsibility on them and on care workers.
Listen to Tracey
McClure’s interview with Fr. Faddoul in which he gives more details about the Cor
Unum/Bambin Gesu’ collaboration with Caritas Lebanon: ******************************************************************************************************** The
following is the presentation made by Fr. Faddoul at Wednesday's Press Conference
in the Vatican press office:
Your Eminence Cardinal Robert Sarah president
of CorUnum, Your Excellency the president of Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital Professor
Giuseppe Profiti, Distinguished guests and media representatives,
I
carry a warm greeting to all of you from the land of continuous suffering, the land
of present time refugees, from the holy lands of Lebanon and Syria which are experiencing
all sorts of ordeals and carrying the cross of the suffering humanity.
On
behalf of all Caritas Lebanon members and all beneficiaries especially the Syrian refugees
I’d like to start by saluting our God-sent Pope Francis who has set a great example
to all of us in following in the footsteps of Our Lord Jesus who bestowed love
and compassion upon the poor of the world identifying himself with “all those little
ones”.
Dear friends, As the situation in Syria gets worse, more and
more refugees are fleeing their country to join other families in Lebanon. Official
statistics given by UNHCR indicate the presence of over 800000 Syrian refugees
who have registered or are in the process of being registered; while the numbers
given by the Lebanese authorities talk about well over 1.2 million refugees in the country.
AS
for the numbers of refugees Caritas Lebanon has served since April 2011, 32000 families have
been registered and catered to; that is around 160000 individuals (94.3% Muslims and
5.7% Christians).
26944 Syrian and Lebanese children have received assistance
to enroll in formal education with enrollment efforts continuing as a part of a
UNICEF program. Caritas Lebanon is working with around 382 schools to help these
children with tuition fees and school supplies. On the medical front, Caritas Lebanon
has provided during September and October 2013 the following medical services:
-
6177 nursing care services - 4079 pediatric and general practitioner consultations -
677 gynecologic consultations - 5077 pharmaceutical services - 158 ultrasound
tests - 301 vaccinations
I mentioned those numbers to pinpoint the fact
that the joint program announced today is most needed; it aims at reducing the
pain and suffering of many children living in Lebanon, be that Syrian refugees
or children of host communities. This category has not been properly served by
any humanitarian agency on Lebanon’s soil.
It is Caritas Lebanon’s great
honor and privilege to be partnering with Bambino Gesu Pediatric Hospital and Cor
Unum in this venture as we set the course of action towards reaching out to all
families who meet the set criteria.
In short, Caritas Lebanon will be “providing
necessary infrastructures and human resources in an adequate manner and will be
directly responsible for the management of financial and inkind contributions provided
by Cor Unum and Bambino Gesu Pediatric Hospital…” This is one of the important
aspects of our organization’s work; I shall leave the presentation of the details of
the program to the relevant authority.
Finally, I can’t but address Caritas
Lebanon’s thanks and appreciation to Cor Unum in the person of His Eminence Cardinal
Sarah for their continuous support and encouragement, and to Bambino Gesu Hospital
for their outreach program and their enthusiasm in implementing the program with
our staff and volunteers.
May our collaboration produce the positive results
we look for and manifest the kind and loving Christian spirit we are called to
exhibit as we serve the neediest and lowliest. Thank you all for your kind attention!