The Trip to Nabatiyeh
from Fouad Husni
Valley International School, Lebanon

On Wednesday the 20th March 2002, the Valley International School Child
Labor Club visited the "Kamel Yousef Jaber Cultural Social Center" in
Nabatiyeh, South Lebanon. Kamel Yousef Jaber founded this Center in 1996,
which is now under the direct supervision of Deputy Yassin Jaber.

The purpose of this visit was to see what is being done about Child Labor in
Lebanon. We had researched on the Internet and found out about the center.

The objectives of the Center are:

v Cultural Development
v Knowledge Confirmation
v General Assistance in Various domains

The effectual activity of this Center started in July 1998. Since 1999
various teaching sessions. It has also been hosting cultural, social,
sportive and artistic activities, in addition to sponsoring the town-council
children's activities in Nabatiyeh.

The students that attend this Center have a feminist committee, which
focuses on women and child affairs, in addition to another committee, which
takes care of cultural and social affairs.

The Center is of a fabulous environment. The building is made up of two
floors. The ground floor consists of the administration, library, classrooms
and the exhibition hall. On the other hand, the upper floor holds an
enormous hall and theater in addition to guestrooms with bedrooms and many
facilities. It is surrounded by beautiful gardens, a court (for both basket
ball and volley ball) and parking lots.

All the sessions and activities are offered free of charge and at the full
expense of the Center.

We had a long discussion about the activities of the center and what they
are doing to help solve the problem of child labor in Nabatieh. They work
with the vocational training center and have established a new center for
child protection, aiming at putting an end to Child Labor in Nabatiyeh.

The problem is not as straightforward as it sounds, as the Lebanese
government has signed but not yet implemented all the laws of the UN
convention for children rights. That means that parents are not obligated to
send their kids to school or make sure they reach a certain level of basic
education. Children are working at a young age; some have zero literacy
while others are school dropouts due to learning abilities and
personal/social problems. They end up being the sole providers for their
families earning. It is very difficult to stop all of them from working to
attend school but they are trying with assistance of the UNEP to fund their
education and provide them with monthly salaries.

The center works along with social workers and municipalities to assess each
child's problem and find the best way to help him/her to adjust in society.
Some are provided with basic literacy, others are trained to master a
professional vocation. But all of them end up being a productive member of
their society. A controversial question is that government forbids children
to work/or attend vocational schools below the age of 14, which makes it
difficult to officially help students at the critical ages of 12 and 13.

We also visited the Nabatieh Technical School. It was very informative. It
was opened in 1969 with approximately 100 students, now it has an average of
775 students. This center provided a variety of 15 different vocational
training activities. We observed only two; mechanics and metal shaping. We
were given souvenirs that kids had made and had the chance to meet and take
pictures with two of the students.

Classes start at 2.00pm and end at 5.00pm. The age groups range between
14-15 going to 18-19. After the students go through their official exams
(brevet and baccalaureate) they are therefore provided with profession
degrees provided by the school.

The trip was fascinating.. We enjoyed our time; we were also invited to
lunch.

Great thanks to Miss Maria Assi who guided us throughout our trip, to Mr.
Fadi and Mrs. Eliane and of course to our driver Said.

Fouad Husni
Valley International School
Lebanon