"The benefits of a good education can never be taken away from us," said the Norwegian State Secretary, Raymond Johansen, in a visit to an open day at the NRC’s Education Project in Lebanon yesterday.
The event, at NRC’s Education Resource Centre in the Shia-majority Southern Suburbs of Beirut, hosted other dignitaries including the Iraqi and Norwegian Ambassadors to Lebanon, Jawal Hakiri and Aud Lise Norheim and UNHCR’s Regional Representative, Stephane Jaquemet. Johansen and the other dignitaries visited the centre in to learn more about NRC’s education project activities for the Iraqi refugee community in Lebanon.
 |
Students at NRC's Education Resource
Centre in Beirut greets Norwegian
State Secretary Raymond Johansen.
Photo: Norwegian Refugee Council/
Robert Beer
|
Education protects
Johansen spoke of the important role the international community can play in protecting vulnerable displaced persons, particularly young people from families who cannot afford to send their children to schools. Instead, they work underage in sometimes dangerous work environments.
"Education is an important way to protect young people, as well as to prepare them", he said. "To gain the skills offered here at NRC’s Centre can help people lead a life of their own choosing, when they have the opportunity to return to Iraq one day," he said.
One of the students at the centre, a young Iraqi refugee girl, was very impressed by Johansen - except perhaps by his Arabic.
"He has come all the way from Norway. He is very handsome, but when I tried to teach him how to say merhaba [hello in Arabic], it was impossible," she laughs.
Inspired
Johansen was shown around the centre by NRC staff. Ulla Backlund, NRC’s Country Director in Lebanon, says the visit was very positive.
"A visit from a person with such knowledge and a genuine interest for what we are doing is very inspiring for our future work," she says.
Richard Evans, NRC’s shelter project manager in Lebanon, agrees.
"To have somebody who has played such an important role in the Middle East in recent times, visit a relatively small project, was an honor and also reinforces the strong working relationship between NRC and the Norwegian government," he says.
NRC Education Resource Centre
The NRC Education Resource Centre was opened in August 2007, and assists over 250 Iraqi refugee families living in the southern suburbs of Beirut. The centre is funded in part by UNHCR, and offers children’s education activities, adult and youth learning programs and community outreach.