Learning to love diversity in a land of division
through Children’s Councils

Aline Chayyeb, 12, from the city of Zahle in Central Lebanon, shows a medal she received for participating in the National Child's Day activity held in Beirut April 5.

Early in 2008, World Vision began laying the foundation for the Children’s Council project, a national initiative to bring children’s voices to the forefront of the discussion of children’s rights in Lebanon. It is a new approach in a country where children are often seen, but seldom heard. But when they’re asked, they have plenty to say and they don’t mince their words.

“My projects are to demand solutions for everything harmful to children and to deal with the issue of homelessness, child labour and cruelty towards (children),” says Youhanna Khazen, 14, from the Bekaa Valley, an agricultural area in central Lebanon.

“Every child has rights and obligations,” says Melissa Najem, 13, also from the Bekaa Valley. “Homelessness is the responsibility of parents in the first place and can be caused by greed, poverty or many other reasons. We should work hand-in-hand to allow these children to live a normal life similar to ours.”

“I really care about homeless children and I would like to help them so much,” says Jennifer Abetian, 16, from World Vision’s project in Burj Hamud, a poor urban suburb of Beirut. “My aim is to help them get a home, food and a family to care for them.”

“We will also give the deaf or those having pronunciation or speech difficulties the opportunity to live like us and like all the children so they will not be isolated in the world they belong to,” says Avo Karakechichian, 16, also from Burj Hamud.

“We will raise money to build a free school for children whose parents cannot afford to send them to school,” says Freddy Jean Lawlach, 12, from north Lebanon.

The Children’s Council project began in February when World Vision established local children’s councils in each area where it has development projects.

In the mountains of Lebanon’s mostly Christian north, in the rolling hills of the predominately Shiite Muslim south, in crowded Palestinian refugee camps and in the narrow streets of Beirut’s poorer neighbourhoods, children came together to learn about the project and how they could contribute.

At the end of their first meeting, they elected six of their peers to represent them at a national meeting. A boy and girl from each of three age groups were elected to ensure fair gender, age and regional representation.

Aline Chayyeb, 12, was elected to represent Zahle, the largest city in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. Her first reaction to being asked to participate in the children’s council was one of surprise.

“(I thought) this is like politicians,” says Aline. “I thought it was a game at first ... then all kinds of ideas came to my mind. My friends helped me of course. I want to help all homeless kids, know the reasons for that and help them in any way I can, even if my help is really small.”

Aline comes from a Muslim family of six. Her father works two jobs to support the family and has to travel regularly to Syria to care for a sick father.

Although she does not have many resources of her own, the Children’s Council has inspired her to do what she can for those who have even less.

“Funds can be raised from us (children) even very small amounts that can buy an outfit for a very poor child who needs it and may make him very happy,” she adds.

On April 5, the 60 children who were elected to the 10 local councils spilled out of buses in front of World Vision’s main office near Beirut and filed into the conference room. After introducing themselves, the children broke into groups according to their ages to discuss the issue of discrimination.

Their observations were occasionally surprising: the youngest group concluded it was not right to discriminate against people either on the basis of skin colour or whether they were “skinny or fat.”
After elections held that day, seven children were assigned to a national board with a specific mandate to represent children at the national level, attend meetings with stakeholders and participate in planning and evaluating activities at the national and community level.

To ensure a consistent approach, the first phase of the project focussed on the issues of tolerance, diversity and citizenship. These are critical issues in a country still grappling with the consequences of religious and political conflict, and in which 400,000 Palestinian refugees have been deprived of citizenship in any state for more than 60 years.

The first major national activity for the Children’s Councils was the celebration of National Child Day, which falls on April 13 in Lebanon. More than 300 children gathered at a school in Beirut for a day of activities that sought to break down barriers and build friendships between children from different backgrounds.

Children competed together in teams that consisted of children from different religions, regions, age groups and ethnic groups. Activities included creating a sketch to demonstrate what they would do to ensure a fictional child character was able to exercise her rights, and to brainstorm as many Arabic words related to citizenship as they could.

“In Lebanon, many children are nearly isolated from those who come from backgrounds different than their own,” says Patricio Cuevas-Parra, World Vision’s advocacy manager. “These differences and divisions lead to fear and misunderstanding, which have led to violence in the past and may lead to conflict in the future. This is why we asked the children to focus on the issues of tolerance, diversity and citizenship first. World Vision hopes that by bringing children together in events like this, these divisions will be overcome and these children will begin building the foundation of peace for their country.”

For Palestinian refugee children in Lebanon, citizenship and its accompanying rights has no practical meaning. Palestinian refugee children have never known the home they long to return to, and have never experienced what it means to have the protection of the state. Despite their long history in the country, Lebanese children are often unaware of the needs of their Palestinian peers.

On June 27, children from the Children’s Council gathered in Beirut again, this time at the UNESCO Palace in Beirut to commemorate World Refugee Day with an event called “Neighbours Without Borders.” This gala of cultural and child rights-based dances, songs and sketches was preceded by activities that allowed Lebanese children to learn about the situation of Palestinian refugee children in Lebanon.

"Since we can’t help the Palestinian children politically, at least we can support them in other areas,” says Husein el Khazen, 13, from the Beirut suburb of Ain el Remaneh. In addition to these major national events, children participating in the council are taking part in local events that reinforce key messages related to children’s rights.

They are also receiving training in areas such as writing, media relations and leadership, to ensure they have the skills and background they need to be able to exercise and advocate for their rights. Since the council’s inception just three months ago, the change in the children is measurable.

“In surveys we conducted at the beginning and end of this first phase, we noticed an increase in the children’s ability to talk about topics such as diversity,” says Olivia Pennikian, World Vision’s peace-building officer. “At the start of the project, they saw diversity primarily in terms of religious differences. In their final presentations, they show they had an expanded understanding of diversity. One project was a Lebanese flag decorated with the phrase ‘in a country, people should accept each other and celebrate the diversity of different nationalities, races, languages, denominations, cultures and political orientations’. Another group listed all the things that can divide a community on a poster, then crossed them out and wrote in the centre ‘we are all human beings.’ It’s exciting to see that kind of change.”

As the project moves into its next phase, World Vision hopes that the children of the Children’s Council will continue to be transformed, and to transform their communities. Some of them have already started.

“The main contribution in my opinion would be tolerance,” says Aline. “In our future, we should accept other children and then help them. We should not judge them, not even children with disabilities I think more of children’s rights and I am now a more responsible person, even at home with my sisters and brothers. I dream that the council will help all children of Lebanon... My dreams started when they elected me.”

The Children’s Council Project is sponsored by The Eagle Down Foundation and World Vision Switzerland.