As the Nour International founders at ACS Beirut plan for their annual fundraising dinner, we as their teachers wanted to dedicate today's story to them:
As an educator, watching your students become passionate and empathetic educators is a rare honor. The student leaders of Nour International are my former students at the American Community School at Beirut, now seniors in high school. I have seen them move on from desks in my classroom to standing in front of a room full of Syrian and Palestinian students at the Nour Center, eager to learn English, sing songs, or play soccer. In addition to teaching students from the Nour Center every Saturday, these student leaders also oversee fundraising and advocacy efforts for the Nour Center, both within their school and with their peers at schools across the globe. They spend their spare time running fundraising dinners, coordinating bake sale fundraisers, and teaching elementary and middle school students about the Nour Center, and Skyping with partner schools internationally. It is remarkable what they have accomplished in the past three years, both as compassionate young educators and as advocates for education for their Syrian and Palestinian peers in the Burj Al Barajneh camp.
As of today, we have funded 30 students(!!), but we have 170 more to support! Education is a human right: please help us spread the word about supporting the students at the Nour Center!