Origin
In 1997, while visiting Lebanon, a young volunteer of the Order of Malta in Germany was touched by the severity of mental and physical disability cases in Lebanon as well as the general lack of public means and support despite the invaluable goodwill and efforts of private organizations and institutions.
He decided then to offer these forgotten people a vacation in the Lebanese mountains.
Between 1998 and 2006, young volunteers of the Order of Malta in Lebanon inspired by the work of their German counterparts participated actively to this ambitious project in building long lasting smiles on the faces of all their guests with special needs.
Since 2009, the camps in Lebanon gained significant momentum and international recognition.
Today, thanks to the solid support and contribution of youth delegations from around the world, and the renovation of the center, 36 one-week camps are currently organized per year with 10 nationalities and 14 leading delegations. Due to increasing demand during peak season, in 2018 a new hosting center located in Kfardebian, few minutes away from Chabrouh, has been allocated to the project.
In 2018, Kfardebian hosted 50 guests and 61 volunteers constituting 2 Spanish and 2 Swiss camps as well as the Palestinian and Austrian delegations. It’s expecting twice this number of attendees in the summer of 2019 as 6 camps will be taking place there.
As a tradition, each camp is named after the delegation leading it but volunteers can choose to participate in any camp they wish to.
How it works
The camps take place at the Order of Malta center in Chabrouh, 10 months a year with peak seasons during holidays. As the number of delegations are growing, some camps are set in a nearby center in Kfardebian during summer.
A Safety & Security committee continuously monitors the country’s situation and is responsible of the safety of all volunteers at all times, this is why volunteers are asked to abide by the rules of the camps.
The first day of the camp, each volunteer is assigned a guest that he/she will be responsible of during the entire duration of the camp. This one-on-one relationship is the basic foundation behind this project: during the one-week holiday camp, the disabled guest receives all the attention and devoted love of one person, at any time of the day – a luxury whish he/she is deprived of all year long.
A variety of activities are organized every day, such as walks, games, fancy dinners, singing sessions, bonfires, prayers, theatre plays, beach outings in the summer, snow sledding in the winter, among others, to offer unforgettable and unique moments to the guests.
