A Beautiful Cooperation: A Former Teacher and Her Students

COVID-19 UPDATE

As COVID-19 began spreading in the country, the ICAA launched a fundraising drive by WhatsApp and raised almost 18,000,000 LL to help support the work of our front-line health workers at the Rafik University Hospital, the Lebanese Red Cross and the AUBMC. Contributions also went to support the Lebanese Food Bank.

Below: A teacher from the public school, Shaden Orfali Ghida Fakhri (IC parent), Dina Agha (IC parent), Lana Bahri (ICAA Operations Coordinator), Dania Sinno (ICAA member), Nadine Mazboudi Itani (ICAA member), Rawia Baalbaki (ICAA member), Karim Noueihed (Head of the ICAA Legal Committee)

Thanks to the efforts of a former teacher and the IC Alumni Association (ICAA), sixty public school children received a ‘goody’ package in January containing a brand new jacket and various needed items.

It all started quite by chance. Former IC biology teacher, Ghada Feghali, had contacted the Association in the hope of finding volunteer tutors to help at MMKN, an NGO created by Feghali in 2010 to help public school students pass the official Brevet Exam and thus save them from a truant lifestyle.

The ICAA jumped at the chance. With the ongoing disturbances in the country, many of the initiatives planned by the association have been put on hold, but still, the ICAA had been brainstorming to find positively impacting philanthropic opportunities during the ongoing economic crisis.

Feghali’s call was music to their ears. That was exactly the kind of project they were looking for, and a meeting was set up.

As several ICAA members walked into the MMKN’s office, Feghali scrutinized their faces. Somewhere within these adults were the middle school students that she had taught years ago.

“Do you remember us, miss?” they asked.

Suddenly the lines of the adult face reverted to childish ones.

There’s young Karim Baalbaki, she thought. Still smiling.

And here he was married to another one of her students, Rawia.

Karim Baalbaki (ICAA President)

To her amusement, her former students looked nervous. Feghali laughed. She had been a firm teacher and - at one point, their associate director - and expected students to mind her. But she loved them, and they knew it.

“Do you know why I studied biology even though I hated it?” said one ICAA member, “It’s because I knew that you were teaching us from your heart. I used to study for you.”

The ice broken and warm greetings over, the MMKN and the ICAA got down to business. It was a perfect match, really. MMKN had the way but not the reach. The ICAA had the reach but not the means.

What can we do to help out a public school right here in Ras Beirut, they asked?

Feghali had the answer. Since its inception in 2010, MMKN had expanded its activities to younger students in elementary and middle school, providing after school educational activities. One of her ‘protégés’ is Ramlet al Zarif public school. The economic crisis had hit its families hard. Parents would appreciate anything the ICAA can offer its children.

The ICAA set to work. The “Give a Little, Help a Lot” campaign was duly launched. Over 1600 emails were sent out to the alumni community.

“We realized that people don’t have much money, so we asked for clothes and toys,” explained Lana Bahri, ICAA’s Operations Coordinator. “Items in good condition that they have at home.”

Dozens of items began arriving at the ICAA office. Many alumni donated money – enough to buy 60 students, aged 3 to 15,

new jackets and hats.

Volunteers showed up, and the sorting began. Finally, 60 boxes, containing clothes, toys and, of course, the new jackets and hats, were packed and ready.

Accompanied by Feghali, several ICAA members arrived at the school on January 7. Excited children received their packages gratefully. “It was touching for all,” said Feghali. “The children, MMKN and the ICAA.”

The success of their first collaborative effort has prompted ICAA and MMKN to plan for the next alliance: the Get Active Day at AUB – a two-day workshop at the university for fifty public school high school students intended to introduce them to the concepts of goal setting, volunteering, and social entrepreneurship. MMKN needs volunteers. Several ICAA members signed up as tutors. The cooperation between the two groups promises to become a permanent one as official papers are currently being prepared.

“It’s so gratifying that you have left an imprint on your students,” said Feghali. “When you work from your heart and teach with love, students know it. I gave, and now they are giving back.”

ICAA and MMKN will be launching similar projects in various public schools. If interested in donating or volunteering, contact ICAA at 71 686 772. (https://www.icaalebanon.com/) MMKN is funded mostly by private tutoring lessons – a large part of which goes to fund public school afterschool classes. If interested in hiring a tutor, call: 01755070 (https://www. mmkn.org/)

Ghada Feghali