Location: Jbeil (Byblos), Lebanon
Director: Archmaindrit Paren Vartanian
Founded: 1928

How it all started
The Birds' Nest Home, which is located in Byblos, provides a home for orphaned children and those who are unable to live with their families, due to difficult circumstances at home. Many children come to the Home with sad stories of death, illness and family problems. Birds' Nest ensures their education and helps them in their social and psychological rehabilitation.

Birds' Nest was founded by a Danish missionary named Miss Maria Jacobsen. During the First World War, two and a half million Armenians were expelled from their homeland and over one million were massacred by the Turks. Among the survivors of these atrocities were thousands of orphans. Maria Jacobsen was able to gather many orphaned children into a safe hiding place to avoid detection by the Turks, while she cared for them and gave them medical help. In 1928, she opened the Danish Birds' Nest Orphanage in Jbeil, the site of the ancient city of Byblos. In 1970, the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia took over the management of the Home and has continued to oversee it to the present day.

Byblos is about 20 miles north of Beirut. It was a Phoenician port in Bible times and, like Tyre and Sidon, it sent its traders all over the Mediterranean area. It was famous for exporting Egyptian papyrus to Greece, and eventually byblos began to mean 'book'.

Current activities

All of the 50 children who live at Birds' Nest are from Armenian Christian families.  Until July 2003, the Home ran a primary school for the children.  However, the children now attend a local school as day students, returning home to Birds’ Nest every evening.  This new routine allows them to meet, play and work with other children, thus helping them to integrate more fully into society. 

The Home has regular Sunday services and the children attend Sunday School in the Home’s chapel.

Two important annual events are Graduation day and the Summer Camp.  Graduation day is attended by visitors and family members, and includes songs, recitations in Armenian, Arabic and English, dances by the children and speeches.  The Summer Camp, which lasts for about a month, is held at the Home itself with volunteer helpers.  Many years ago the children used to spend the month in the Home's camp, up in the mountains, which is now occupied by refugees.  The children take part in games, sports, music and handiwork, and have the chance to meet and play with other children who live in similar situations to themselves. 

Christmas, also, is a joyful time, with parties, a nativity play and a carol concert by the choir. 

The Armenians tried to keep out of the years of civil conflict in Lebanon, between 1975 and 1990, but a great number were killed, injured, or made homeless.  Now poverty and unemployment is widespread in Lebanon, as the government continues in its attempts to rebuild the country.  Birds’ Nest itself did not escape the civil war without harm.  Shelling in 1983 caused serious damage to the dormitories and BibleLands raised considerable funds for repairs. 

In spite of all these difficulties, the staff at Birds’ Nest trust in God, who keeps them and still guides them to do their duty in the best way for the children.  Thank you for sharing in the care of deprived children in a land which is still unstable and fearful.