What do we do?
We are a FAMILY
We are a community, a home, a family;
and in this family, no-one stands alone.
Our work is simple. We are there for each other. We provide English classes and homework support but that is not all we do. Our programs go beyond education.
CLASSES
One-to-one classes
All of our students attend private English classes. Within our English curriculum we teach Ethics, History, Geography and Science.
We also have group Ethics, Arabic and Math classes and provide support in other subjects when needed.
Our books are carefully made, making sure that every student feels represented in them.
ACTIVITIES
Growing up playing
During the weekend we organize workshops, trips and recreational activities.
Our educators also play a big part in our students’ free time. They carry out activities with their students during the weekend and they also organize school activities and workshops.
Non-formal education
Our workshops focus on opening conversation about racism, conflict, sexism, LGBTQ+ phobia and other issues.
Our students also attend weekly trainings on democracy which boost their participation within the school.
We offer our students and moms the opportunity to enhance their extra-curricular skills with classes of their choice.
WORKSHOPS
Humanitarian aid
We deliver packages with food, hygiene products and baby products and medicines to over 450 families, a total of 2,529 people.
More than 75% of Lebanon’s population lives below the poverty line. These past years, food prices have increased by a 400% and salaries have lost an 80% of their value.
To ensure the well-being of our families, we make sure to distribute the basic products that they cannot longer afford.
PACKAGES
Health comes first
We take special care in ensuring that students grow in a safe, stable and hygienic environment. To this end, we provide them with hygiene workshops at our center while ensuring that they brush their teeth everyday.
Additionally, we accompany them to the doctor and finance medical care and medicines.
The brain is also an organ
We ensure our students obtain the psychological support they need. War, migration, financial struggles and daily discrimination have an impact that needs to be addressed. At 26 Letters, we have our own psychologist from within our community who also helps us understand how to better serve the well being of our students.
HEALTHCARE
ASSISTANCE
Work
Some of our students work to sustain their families. We make sure their work environment is healthy and safe by personally meeting their managers. Creating a good relationship with their workplace allows us to negotiate more hours for school activities over work.
Students that struggle with abusive jobs are given the opportunity to work with us as Arabic teachers.
Discrimination
Our families face discriminatory situations when enrolling their children at school or accessing healthcare. Lack of information and the fear of reprisals prevents them from addressing these discrimination-based issues.
We provide our families with support services. This includes, accompanying services to the doctor, enrolling their children in school and acting as intermediaries between public schools and parents.
A school run by students
OUR MOMS
Mom’s school
We have opened a new department of the school dedicated to providing the mothers of our students with access to practical and vocational education, covering subjects like health, hygiene, rights and empowerment.
Our moms have also self-organized literacy classes. In their school, moms that know how to read are teaching the ones that don’t.
Our psychological services are also available for parents and relatives. Family sessions are also provided when problems emerge within the family environment.
SAFE-SPACE
A 24/7 home
26 Letters remains open on weekends too. We aren’t just an educational center, we are also a safe space where children can relax and be themselves.
A 24/7 26 Letters emerged from our own teenagers who requested a safe-place where to go when facing problems at home.
Love is all you need
If there is something you notice when you enter our centre, it is love.
The relationship between tutor and pupil goes beyond the educational framework. At 26 letters, students and educators become family and, thus, take care of one another.
This close relationship extends to the parents of our students. Family dinners, meet ups and gatherings around a cup of tea is our way to show our affection for one another.
Trust and care are the very foundations of 26 Letters, a school that bridges communities, countries and cultures with a feeling as simple as love.
LOVE
At the end of 2021, our school became Democratic. Our aim was to provide our children and families with a space where to be heard, a space that they could shape and transform.
To this end, we ran a number of focus groups where our students were challenged to answer the following question: “How can you fulfill your right to education?” Their answers constituted the foundation of this project.
The Tribal School is designed to provide our families with an environment where they can define their own rights, participate and democratically engage with the educational system. We are broadening student-led and parent-led engagement and empowering them to become the decision-makers of 26 Letters. That’s right! At 26 Letters, our students and parents are the ones making the decisions.
Our school supports students and parents to become the generators, the channels and the receivers of their own rights by turning around the hierarchical pyramid.
26 Letters is a school completely run by children and youth where all school actors, including parents, interact democratically.
