A COVENTRY-based charity’s annual Lent Appeal has raised more than £25,000 to help Syrian refugee children return to school.
Supporters of Global Care’s annual charity drive succeeded all expectations with their generosity – breaking the fundraising target of £20,600.
The money will go towards Global Care’s Lebanese partner organisation ‘Shack Schools’, which provides education for refugee children living in roadside camps who have fled their homes amid bitter civil war fighting.
And with around 500,000 Syrian refugee children living in very basic conditions in Lebanon – 70 per cent of whom are not in school – Shack Schools offer them a chance to get started in education, with lessons in Arabic and Mathematics, and either English or French.
International children’s charity Global Care has been working with refugees in Lebanon for three years and organisers had hoped to raise £20,600 to run an existing Shack School for 54 children aged six to nine for another year, and to open a second school in another roadside camp, and run it for a year.
Global Care CEO, John White, said: “We are so grateful to everyone who has supported this appeal. A whole generation of Syrian children are in complete turmoil, they are not just missing a little school, but missing any chance of an education in the most formative years of their lives. This generous support will allow us to continue our existing work amongst refugee families in Lebanon, and develop it further, so we can help more children at this time of crisis. With no end to the war in sight, it is really important that these children get into school and start to learn the skills which will help them rebuild their lives in the future.”
