Fratelli Project Council meets to finalise groundwork

As reconstruction work of a school for displaced children in southern Lebanon continues, the Fratelli Project Council met at the Marist Institute general house on Feb. 17 to fine-tune details of the project, which so far concerns two schools in Beirut and in Rmeileh. 

The Council met after Brother Chris Wills, director of Collaboration for Mission, International (Cmi), travelled to Lebanon from Feb. 8 – 12 to help organise the project’s administration and management.

He also met with the members of the project’s local advisory committee based in Lebanon – two Lasallians, Brother Habib Zraibi FSC and Clair Said and two Marists, Brother Jose Luis Elias FMS and Edouard Jabre.

“The main challenge is to get started and begin to learn by actually meeting the basic education needs of displaced children,” said Br Chris. “Other challenges are to engage the communities of displaced people within the project and to create a framework where our existing Marist and Lasallian communities – Brothers, teachers, parents and children – can share in the project.”

The Fratelli Project Council members are two Marist Brothers – Brothers Chris Wills and Vicar General Br Joe Mc Kee – and two Lasallian Brothers – Brother Rafael Matas Roselló and Vicar General Br Jorge Gallardo.

One of the project’s schools is in Borj Hammoud, a neighbourhood in north eastern Beirut. 

This socio-educative project works in collaboration with Insan, a non-profit humanitarian organisation, and with the help of three teachers, a coordinator, an animator and a custodian. Brother Bertrand from the Little Brothers of Jesus (Charles de Foucauld) representing Insan is the partner for this project.

The second activity of the project involves rehabilitating a Marist school in Rmeileh near Sidon, 40 km south of Beirut, which was closed during Israeli-Lebanese conflicts.

The buildings will be used as a base for informal education of displaced people living in three UN accommodation sites in Sidon. 

Pastoral youth groups and scouts from Marist and Lasallian Schools in Lebanon are helping to set up the facilities.

Classes are expected to begin in March with five staff – three teachers, one coordinator and one custodian.  Brothers Andrés Porras FSC and Miquel Cubeles FMS are coordinating both schools.

The Marist and Lasallian superior generals launched the project in March 2015 and appointed Brothers Andrés, from Mexico, and Miquel, from Spain, as its leaders.

They arrived to Lebanon at the beginning of September and have been working ever since on organising the project and adapting to a new lifestyle.    

“They’re living simply, working enthusiastically and looking for support,” stated Br Chris.

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The Fratelli Project is an inter-congregational collaboration involving the Marist and De La Salle brothers to which other congregations are invited. The Fratelli Project is not limited to operations in the Middle East and it is expected that it will be established in other places where children and young people suffer from conflict and are displaced or are refugees or migrants.