Caritas launches dramatic appeal to help “lost generation” of Syrian children without schooling

(Vatican Radio) The outgoing President of Caritas Lebanon has launched a dramatic appeal to the international community to help educate hundreds of thousands of Syrian children who do not have access to schools because of the ongoing conflict in their homeland.

Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey have borne the brunt of the influx of Syrian refugees trying to escape the violence. More than 1.2 million refugees are believed to have crossed into Lebanon since the conflict began some three years ago. That’s more than a quarter of Lebanon’s population of four million.

Monsignor Simon Faddoul, recently named the new Apostolic Exarch for the Maronite Church in Western and Central Africa, says he’s very concerned about a “lost generation” of Syrian children who will be illiterate. And the numbers, he says, are increasing every day.

Listen to Tracey McClure’s interview with Msgr. Faddoul:

In January alone, Caritas Lebanon registered 3,400 new Syrian families as refugees. “It’s only one organization. We’re not the UNHCR…the United Nations agency certainly has registered so many more,” says Faddoul.

“The situation of the refugees is worsening from all different angles, and especially the educational aspect. Because the problem is that educational facilities in Lebanon, public facilities in Lebanon, have (just) so much capacity: they were designed to receive 230-240,000 Lebanese students in the public school system. They are already full with Lebanese students. And then, you add to them 400,000 Syrian children, certainly they cannot absorb them.”

“I think until now, they have managed to receive about 70-80,000. We as Caritas have been able to place 45,000 out of the 80,000 (who) were already placed in schools. And this is out of the four hundred thousand - you still have over three hundred (thousand) not schooled.”

Msgr. Faddoul expresses grave concern over the dimensions of the problem: “ We are witnessing the emergence of new gangsters, new drug dealers – small children drug dealers, child labor, child prostitution, child trade – unfortunately.” Women and girls are also being abused, he says, “especially small girls being sold for marriage at an early age.”

“We are seeing things we never dreamt of witnessing.”