Evangelische Bank eG
IBAN: DE85 5206 0410 0000 0001 24
BIC: GENODEF1EK1
Lebanon: JLSS
Lebanon: Johann Ludwig Schneller School
Hope exists in Lebanon: At the Johann Ludwig Schneller School, children and young people are given the chance of a better life. They can go to school, learn dialogue between cultures, and are prepared for the future with a skilled trade.
Lebanon is in the midst of the deepest crisis in its history – political, economic and humanitarian. While the country’s political elite is getting rich at the expense of the general public, an increasing number of people are living in unimaginable poverty. The state-run healthcare system has, to a great extent, collapsed and the environment is sinking in waste.
In the middle of all this chaos, the Johann Ludwig Schneller School (JLSS), together with its boarding school and training workshops, steadfastly goes about its work. Here, young people on the fringes of society, from poor and broken homes, some of them orphans and half-orphans, are given a sound education, and with it a chance at a better life.
Mutual Respect
Christian and Muslim children live and learn together peacefully here. Syrian refugees, who are taught separately at almost every other school in Lebanon, are also firmly integrated in existing boarding school groups and school classes at JLSS. Some of them are actually among the best in their respective classes. Everyday interaction breeds mutual respect and promotes awareness of others’ religion. After finishing secondary school, boys and girls have the opportunity to do a vocational course in automobile mechanics, metalwork, joinery, industrial electronics, or tailoring. Training courses for hairdressers and beauticians have also been added in recent years.
Libanon
6.2 million inhabitants, plus 1 million Syrian refugees
Investing in the future
JLSS is located on the Bekaa high plain in Lebanon, where it can be bitterly cold in winter. To ensure that no child need freeze, the buildings have continuously undergone thermal refurbishments in recent years. Thanks to its pioneering ecological technology, the school is able to save a lot of electricity and heating oil. The school is also investing in the quality of the individual areas of the curriculum: for example, a dilapidated joinery building needs rebuilding, and a multi-year training programme for young Syrians and Lebanese is being set up in the former farm on the school premises. Here, they will learn the building trade – whilst at the same time transforming the farm itself into a guest house.
For peace in the Middle East
Johann-Ludwig Schneller founded the “Syrian Orphanage” in Jerusalem back in 1860. It provided a new home and an academic and vocational education for children made homeless in the conflict between the Druze and Christians. The pioneering spirit lives on at the school to this day: in Lebanon, JLSS is a renowned educational institute for Christian and Muslim students. Care and education make these children new hopes for peace in the region.
Project goals
Johann Ludwig Schneller School (JLSS) in Lebanon is located in Khirbet Kanafar, on the Bekaa plains, not far from the Syrian border. As many Syrian families have fled across the Lebanese border to escape from the war in Syria, the school also accepts Syrian refugee children. These are divided among inter-faith family groups. Living and learning together encourages mutual respect and awareness of the religion of others. JLSS helps the children develop into confident and liberal-minded personalities, full of zest for life.
Project work
With its sound education, Johann Ludwig Schneller School (JLSS) offers pupils the chance of a better life. Children from different religions grow up together. They live, learn, and celebrate their religious festivals together as a matter of course. After graduating from school, the youngsters have access to different training courses in affiliated workshops.
Project partner
Since 1952, JLSS has been run by the National Evangelical Church of Beirut (NECB), a reformed church, which works closely with the Schneller Foundation within the school’s local administrative board. In doing so, NECB and JLSS are continuing the work of Johann Ludwig Schneller, who founded the “Syrian Orphanage” in Jerusalem back in 1860, in order to give war orphans a good education that would offer them the opportunity to live a self-sufficient life.
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