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 26^th. 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:
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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!