Beirut/Erlangen – Baptists in Lebanon are caring for children with learning disorders. The project, which was started in 2011, has also been covered by Lebanese television. The project was founded by the Baptist run Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development, and is known locally by the acronym SKILD: Smart Kids with Individual Learning Differences. Recently, Pastor Frank Wegen (Erlangen), a committee member of the aid agency German Baptist AID, visited Lebanon in order to find out about the latest developments on site. He is very enthusiastic about SKILD: “In a country lacking national health insurance, children with learning disabilities or perceptual disorders are very quickly left behind.” Speech therapy, occupational therapy, dyslexia and dyscalculia training, help with ADHD or autism all remain the privilege of the rich. SKILD is seeking on the one hand to draw attention to this topic on the national level, while, on the other hand, helping low-income families to receive therapeutic help. 

Children and teenagers between the ages of 3 and 18 years can be treated—regardless of their religious background. Wegen reports, “The need among families is huge, since mainstream schools quickly weed out children with such needs.” To date, SKILD has signed cooperation agreements with four schools, where they will give special assistance to the children.  

Wegen also visited and sought information about other projects. For example, in the Beeka Plain, refugees from Syria are being cared for by a volunteer team from the Baptist church in Zahle. Rupen Das (Beirut), who works with the Lebanese Society, commented, “It is heartbreaking to hear what our volunteer workers report. Every dollar is needed for aid, especially now, when it is winder, which in the Beeka Plain is terribly cold.”

The Lebanese Baptists are also active in prison ministry. They visit prisoners behind bars and care for the family members of inmates. During a mission visit to Roumieh prison, the largest prison in Lebanon exclusively for long-term prisoners, Wegen preached during the prison worship service: “I was deeply moved to have conversations with a whole range of men and to learn about their situations and to hear their thoughts.”

Wegen also checked out an additional school project in the northern province of Akkar, which is considered the poorhouse of Lebanon. Children there are given assistance in order to cope with school. Wegen commented: “And that in an area where it is far from taken for granted that children will go to school at all! The illiteracy rate in Akkar is 30.5 percent. The bottom line, according to Wegen: “The Baptists are a tiny minority in Lebanon. But in many places in the country they are living out what Jesus impressed on his disciples 2000 years ago: You are the light of the world. And this light is being seen.”