Al-Kafaàt Foundation
Where are they?
What do they do?
Who benefits? |
Beirut
Enable both disabled and disadvantaged Lebanese people of all ages and beliefs to contribute to society, focusing on their capabilities rather than disabilities through a variety of health and education programmes
Disabled and disadvantaged Lebanese people of all ages and beliefs. |
More Information:
Founded: 1957
Beginnings:
Nadeem Shwayri used his personal fortune to set up a catering school for destitute girls that has now developed into a comprehensive rehabilitation complex. Its name translates as ‘Capabilities’. The Centre is one of the only places in Lebanon where Christians, Muslims and Druze live and learn together peacefully.
Activities:
Al-Kafaàt operates across seven separate sites:
- The Lily Shwayri Centre offers programmes and medical services for people with disabilities, including a school for children with cerebral palsy and an Early Intervention Unit.
- Our Lady’s Hall is a school where children with disabilities learn alongside children from mainstream schools.
- The Myriam Centre provides a specialised programme for children with learning difficulties, including Down’s syndrome.
- At the age of 15, beneficiaries of the Myriam Centre can move to The Village, where adults with learning difficulties or physical disabilities are offered sheltered employment in areas such as paper recycling, sewing, pottery, wood carving, cheese production and hairdressing.
- The Beit el Adra Home offers boarding facilities for up to 450 residents. The Centre’s medical team and outpatients’ clinic is also based there.
- The Catering School is run by Nadeem’s second son, Ramzi, a famous Lebanese chef. It provides training and also catering services to the other centres. It runs a restaurant, which is open to the public and produced 1,100 daily meals for refugees staying locally during the war with Israel in 2006.
- Ain Saadeh is also vocational training campus and offers technical, practical and business training, with an emphasis on integration into employment. Students can choose from a variety of subjects such as education, care for the elderly, accounting, business management, interior design, multimedia and practical courses in areas such as carpentry, electrical engineering, beauty therapy and mechanics.
Downloadable documents:
Click here for a printable factsheet on the Al-Kafaàt Foundation
Click here for an article about the Al-Kafaàt Foundation (from our 2007-2008 Annual Review)
Click here to download our December 2009 article from The Star in the East magazine (PDF)
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