Caramel St. Joseph Mechref, like Lebanon and a plural These are not buildings, but an educational project launched 75 years ago that the nuns of St. Joseph came Caramel Mechref to celebrate during a Jubilee Mass has taken an official stamp and national, to which the entire educational community was involved, from the youngest to oldest.
"The happy chance" - the word is John of the Cross - dates back to 1935 with the arrival in port three Carmelites of St. Joseph came to Lebanon "lead" to God. It
Achrafieh they first settled and opened a school and a vocational course household. In 1941, they move Mousseitbé. But in 1946, after the difficult years of the Second World War, the opportunity presents itself to occupy the barracks Veillotte, the French army comes to evacuate, rue de Verdun. This is where they will further offshore until 1995.
In 1975 civil war broke out. Led by Sister Benedicta, a worthy daughter of St. Teresa, the Carmelites of St. Joseph took the bold decision to keep school doors open, convinced that it was appropriate 'To oppose arms another fight. " The group facilitator, trained lay and religious, chose to engage. Parents, against all odds, take the risk of sending their children daily. While death was his work in Lebanon, his life was in Caramel St. Joseph.
space asylum
"At the heart of the roar of bombs and the chaos of war, Verdun Street, remembers Evelyn Hamdan, a former teacher, the school presented itself as a sanctuary, a protective space, somehow asylum, where students, young and old, established communication with adults, apprehensive of knowledge, sharpening their intellect, or simply dreaming of a peaceful world. This haven of mind, we had the strength of character sœurr Benedict, who led a resistance action against the disintegration of Lebanon by the decision to keep the school open by years of violence 75-76 (most other establishments remain closed). We also had the heroism of teachers who answered the call, despite the perils of the journey, sometimes under fire from snipers as the infamous passage of the Museum. And accomplished the prodigy student distressed ran every morning around this shelter they drew colorful horizons of hope and knowledge. "
" ... Today, I wonder how we could ensure continuity in the work since most often we did not have the same students in the class (at the discretion of districts affected by the bombing) or in the middle of the course arose haggard parents to collect their children? And yet each of us knew that he managed to follow up the lessons into a smooth progression. In the fury of the war we had to hone our teaching skills and we find strength develop quality education to our students face waiting our message of life in a world of death. "
Transfer to Mechref
In 1994, the approach of the expiration of the lease, a new adventure begins. The land is no longer available, we must look elsewhere. But "the glorious St. Joseph" before. With land donated to Mechref near Damour, evacuation allowances and donations, the continuity of the educational project is assured. The location of the new land at the crossroads of three regions in a country to rebuild, represents, along with a challenge, a real potential for the future. The community is determined to act in the sense that it recognizes as "undesirable people". Thus at an image of Lebanon as a plural and the astonishing resilience, the project rebounds.
The challenges are many. How many are aware of? At the end of the war, we must train the generation that is facing Lebanon and build a rule of law. Educational level, the basic intuition is that the educator should be a smuggler, a person who creates the student, as begets life. It is therefore essential to combine it with governance. On the basis of this operation, trust, a keyword present from the outset.
"It was in 1970, remembers one of these" smugglers, "Henri Awit, now vice-chancellor of the LSU Academic Affairs, who describes his own" beginning "teacher. I had just two licenses in philosophy and Arabic language and literature. I had job interviews in twenty schools. With very polite and kind words, I was meant everywhere the same rejection: you lack experience, and we regret not being able to recruit a beginner. "
" It's the end of this laborious and frustrating tour continues Henri Awit, Sister Benedicta, then director of the school, received me in early July in his office in the Rue Verdun. I would submit my CV to be reduced while at my university and told him very simply from the failure of my previous attempts. It was surprising then that thought: If I do not commit you, you will still be in ten years or twenty years, even the young beginner. "
Keyword: trust
" The words of Sister Benedict stood obviously makes sense, says the academic supervisor. But beyond the wisdom and insight that characterized his words expressed the confidence that the Sisters of Caramel made it a point to place spontaneously in those who work with them. In this, they lived fairly well described as an ideal Romain Gary White Dog, "We must continue to trust men, because it is less important to be disappointed, betrayed and mocked by them than continuing to believe in themselves and trust them. In addition, the Caramel St. Joseph refuses to be an elite club. True to an injunction of Paul VI - "Sooner or later the time will come when Lazarus may seek to table with the rich man "- he wants to remain accessible. "Should we insist, says Henri Awit is first on the benches of our schools, in the equal dignity and equal children of God, Lazarus is invited to sit beside the rich . The school, for everything she gives instruction and education, transmission of values and life skills, involves much more than what we see! "
A successful shift
As with several other Catholic schools, the history of Caramel St. Joseph is a school that was centered over in urban areas where she had first blossomed. Think Jamhour, Mont La Salle or Champville. But what distinguishes the school is that it was offset to a predominantly Muslim region, namely Mechref at the crossroads of urban areas of Beirut, Sidon and the Chouf. Risky at first glance, this shift has successfully provided the settlement area of an educational project of exceptional value "civil" and an extraordinary impact on the Lebanese social fabric. Mechref, which is 25 minutes from Beirut, and in the opposite direction of traffic, educates 700 students in only 21.10% Christians and attracts both the region and Aramoun Choueifat (29.19%) and Beirut (17.49%), Saida (15.46%), Chouf (14.31%), the southern suburbs ( 8.38%) and the immediate surroundings of Mechref and Damour (15.17%). We see, is an extraordinary case of brewing social and religious high performance citizen, whose potential is still untapped. Because the school of Caramel, by choice as by its location, a place of education or Lebanon is honored among students as well as among teachers. Apart from religious education classes, given separately, the school is, according to Sister Mariam Awit year-Nur, the current top of the congregation, "a place of education for freedom and human values, a place that allows everyone to happen to himself, with the other, another is his challenge and opportunity. "
"What matters to us," she said again, but man alive and standing, whatever circumstances and challenges. "Mechref is also a certified school which prepares the French bac. Certainly, the establishment is run by a religious congregation arrived at the time of the Mandate, but this circle has since been widely and deeply rooted in reality Lebanon. Only one of eight members of the community is French. The other seven are Arabs, including five Lebanese. A center for prayer meetings to share the word, an iconography workshop, multiple catechetical meetings or cultural ensure the spiritual influence of the community. In the history of Catholic schools in Lebanon, each case is unique. The tendency to shift in search of a wider space, was not general. Some schools have remained attached to Beirut - and the College of brothers, Gemmayzeh, the sisters of Besancon, Wadi Abu Jmil, the Franciscan in Badaro, the Sisters of Nazareth in Achrafieh - others have tried an adventure. That of Caramel St. Joseph is in its way, one of the most exemplary. The war has marked all these schools, but Lebanon as a project of life and not death, remained at the heart of their mission. Mechref amply demonstrates.
Fady Noun
