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August 4th 2020, in the Port of Beirut in Lebanon, a large fire broke out in Warehouse 12. One of the largest non-nuclear explosions pulverized the port and damaged over half the city. Tragically 218 people lost their lives and in all 300,000 people were made temporarily homeless.
We partnered with School in a Bag to engage local charities on the ground in Lebanon and together we pledged to support Triumphant Mercy with a brief to support victims of the blast and Syrian families living in refugee settlements..
Triumphant Mercy are a local charity the in which their mission is to create a safe space where children are free to be children and where they build meaningful relationships with families and help them to rise above their circumstances to develop their potential.
In May 2021, a consignment of 240 School Bags were shipped to Beirut and now that the schools have started term after the summer, the first of the School Bags have been handed out to families affected by the devasting explosion by Janane Matar, Director of Triumphant Mercy and her team.
Over a year on from the blast, the situation for so many residents in Beirut is desperate. Janane writes:
“We have visited people in their homes, we have assessed people and we chose the ones who really need assistance. Please do not be fooled by appearances. These families are the ones that were heavily hit by the Beirut blast. They lost literally everything. Some don’t have anymore furniture, their house still is not completely rebuilt.”
Now school will start and so many have expressed such a relief to receive the backpack and the material inside because every item now is so costly. The contents of one of your SchoolBags is worth 600,000 Lebanese Lira - for some, this is more than they make in a month.”
The positive feedback from Janane shoes just how important our work with School In A Bag is and identifies the beneficiaries with the greatest needs. From all at Blake, we wish Janane and her team the very best of luck with the rest of the distribution in the refugee settlement.
