Over 4,500 children and young adults, with varying disabilities, attend the Cedars Capabilities Centre (Al Kafa’at) in Beirut.  The Centre’s name comes from the fact that it concentrates not on the disabilities but on the capabilities of each student. 

The Centre was started in 1957, by Mr Nadeem Shwayri, as a catering school to train destitute girls, but was expanded to allow those with polio to attend.  In time it grew to be a comprehensive rehabilitation centre, with a workshop for the disabled.  The profits from this workshop helped to start a school for disabled and refugee children, then sections for deaf children, mentally disabled children and those with cerebral palsy.  Soon a vocational training section was added and hundreds of youngsters now train in subjects as varied as motor mechanics, garment making, catering and hotel work.  Later, a horticultural centre and village were also added to the work where mentally disabled adults live and work.  A unit making braces and artificial limbs helps around 500 physically disabled or injured children and adults a year.  And there is teacher training for those who want to work with children with special needs. 

Much of this work was achieved during the 15 year civil war in Lebanon, when the Centre's schools were badly damaged ten times and shrapnel was regularly picked up in the playgrounds.

Current activities

The Cedars Capability Centre operates on seven separate sites.  Five of these are in Beirut itself, whilst the two vocational training and further education centres are situated in the hills above Beirut.

The Lily Shwayri Centre (named after Nadeem’s wife) contains the Early Intervention Unit, the school for children with cerebral palsy, the sheltered employment for adults with cerebral palsy, programmes for the multiply-disabled, and the medical and paramedical services, along with some of the workshops that produce the support equipment.  This centre is built on what used to be the Green Line dividing Beirut, a very dangerous area.  During the civil war, this centre was robbed, destroyed and occupied by various militias on nine different occasions.

Our Lady’s Hall houses the main school where both able-bodied and disabled children learn together, with a learning disability programme and an educational programme for the hearing or speech impaired running alongside each other.

The Myriam Centre (named after Nadeem’s daughter) was inaugurated in 1986.  It provided a specialised programme for severely mentally disabled children, and children with Down Syndrome.  These children are taught manual, sensory, communication and hygienic skills, encouraging them to achieve their potential and allowing them a better integration into society.

At the age of 15, the beneficiaries of the Myriam Centre can move on to The Village, where they literally live in a village environment, working in sheltered workshops and continuing to develop their manual and communication skills.  Here, people can chose from a variety of activities, from paper recycling to sewing, pottery, candle making, wood carving, yoghurt and cheese production, hairdressing and beauty therapy.  This centre, too, was located on the Green Line during the civil war, and suffered damage on a number of occasions, due to its location.

All those at the Cedars Capability Centre who are disabled are offered the chance to board at the Beit el Adra Home.  This home was opened in 2002, and caters for up to 450 residents.  High quality medical and paramedical care is on hand, as this is also the base for the Centre’s medical team.  This is the location for the outpatients’ clinic, with its specialised medical services, including a medical swimming pool and jacuzzi.

The first of the two vocational training centres is a catering school, with its own restaurant, which is open to the public.  This centre provides training for waiters as well as for chefs and is run by Nadeem’s second son, Ramzi, a famous Lebanese chef.

The second centre, Le Campus Libano-Européen de Technologie, offers higher education in a variety of fields, such as education, care for the elderly, accounting, business management, interior design, and multimedia.  It also offers a range of vocational training courses, such as car mechanics, carpentry, industrial sewing, electrical engineering, electronics, and beauty therapy, amongst others.

Children and young adults of all faiths and nationalities are welcomed at the centre, and it is one of the few places in Lebanon where Christians, Muslims and Druse live and learn together peacefully. 

The Centre gives a new lease of life to those who would otherwise not be able to attend school, or learn how to make a living for themselves.  The beneficiaries who attend know that they are safe under the loving care of the members of staff who make this work possible.