ayadinax – Ayadina Association

JULY 2022 NEWSLETTER

ayadinax — Mon, 25 Jul 2022 17:57:25 +0000

Arts Education Program (AEP)

It’s the dog days of summer in July, with temperatures in Lebanon soaring.
We, therefore, decided to switch July’s schedule to morning classes for our children to enjoy cooler weather and comfortably participate in their classes.
The needs of our children are our top priority at Ayadina Association, after all!

Food-Aid Initiative For SeniorsThe Food-Aid Initiative for Seniors is still going strong and we could not do it without each and every one of our amazing supporters. Every week, 60 seniors and their families enjoy our balanced, home-cooked meals. With the collaboration and generous support of Lebanese Food Bank, Wadi Al Akhdar, Sofi de France, as well as our committed members, friends, and volunteers Ayadina has been able to carry on with this initiative. A big thank you to all those members and friends who supported our soup kitchen financially, in kind, and most of all by participating actively.

COLLABORATORS

Community-Based Psycho-Social Support

With our partner TDH (Terre Des Hommes) – ITALY, Ayadina has launched a community-based psycho-social support (CBPSS) program with three groups of children from the local community.
It is a 12-session program where participants will acquire a new skill-set aimed at helping them cope with their circumstances. Many topics will be discussed throughout the sessions including child’s rights, cyberbullying, and others.

EVENTS

AUB Voices Through Art Exhibition

Ayadina Association believes that children must be part of the cultural events happening in their country; it is a way to instill in them the love of visiting and experiencing live art.
We took our children to the AUB Voices Through Art Exhibition and our Visual Arts Facilitator, Maral explained the techniques used and the stories in each artwork, including hers, which was on display. The children had the opportunity to meet different artists and have a Q&A with them about their paintings – and their passion for drawing. They were thrilled by the visit to AUB and the wonderful, fulfilling experience provided by the exhibition.

Ayadina’s Monthly Movie Nights

In December 2021, we launched monthly movie nights at Ayadina to allow fun films to be screened for our lovely children. We are always so excited to host them – it is a true pleasure to see the children laughing and having a great time together. Popcorn, chocolate, and juice are served.

Meeting with International College Students

AEP Director, Jean-Paul Osta, met with two students from IC, to answer questions related to their school project on “Poverty”. Their aim was to gain a better understanding of their topic and think of different ways to take action and make a difference in their community. Jean-Paul discussed the Arts Education Program and the Soup Kitchen initiative, as well as Ayadina’s mission, vision, and values, and its importance in these challenging times. The students expressed how this has helped them grow as community-minded individuals and be prepared to be better citizens and leaders of tomorrow.

Humming Bird Studio Visit

Ayadina’s children have met with the summer camp participants from the Humming Bird Studio to get to know each other and exchange knowledge and skills. They danced, played, and painted together. In addition, they participated in the Soup Kitchen Initiative by helping us with the food packaging for our senior citizens. The children from the HBS and Ayadina spent a fruitful and wonderful day together.

FUN DAY AT DAHER EL JAMAL GARDEN

With everything that is happening in Lebanon, and after two years of total lockdown, big events have been on hold for a long period of time. With things opening up, at last, it was the right time to organise a Fun Day at Ayadina Association. We hosted around 130 children at the public garden of Daher El Jamal, where children were divided into color groups and walked to the garden together. Many activities were awaiting the children, including face painting, clowns twisting balloons, three character appearances, a bubble show, clown show, and puppet entertainment. The children played, laughed, and danced together. It was a day to remember.

END OF YEAR AYADINA GATHERING

On June 3, our President and Founder, Maya Najjar, invited Ayadina facilitators, staff, and board members to a gathering at her residence in celebration of the end of the year for the Arts Education Program. We had the chance to get to know each other and establish stronger bonds while singing, laughing, and sharing beautiful memories of Ayadina.

FRUITS OF A CHALLENGING YEAR

We invited the parents to attend Ayadina’s classes and experience the “Fruits of the Year” of their children as a final event before our summer break in August.
Ayadina re-launched its Arts Education Program in September 2021, during an extremely challenging year in Lebanon that held many ups and downs.
Art is a crucial and essential outlet for expressing our inner struggles and regulating our emotional and mental states. As a way of portraying the changes, improvements, and experiences of our children, parents, and team, we decided to capture glimpses from our ongoing classes and record testimonials to show the world what Ayadina Association is achieving, and that it will remain true to its mission, which is needed more today than ever before.

APRIL 2022 NEWSLETTER

ayadinax — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 09:53:31 +0000

April 2022 Newsletter

DECEMBER 2021 NEWSLETTER

ayadinax — Sat, 25 Dec 2021 09:52:54 +0000

Newsletter December 2021

December 2020 Newsletter

ayadinax — Fri, 25 Dec 2020 09:50:37 +0000

December_2020_Newsletter

November 2020 Newsletter

ayadinax — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 11:12:00 +0000

Dearest Friends and Supporters,

We hope all you are spending the holiday season with your loved ones and family members, and you are staying safe.

We come to you with this month’s newsletter to share our latest news.

Our offices were closed for two weeks in November in accordance with the national lock down imposed by the Ministry of Health.

Ongoing Soup Kitchen Project

We share with you below some highlights from our weekly Soup Kitchen. For more pictures and information, you can visit our social media platforms and our website. Thank you to all the cooking team for their relentless commitment and efforts. Thank you Grace Haddad for turning this soup kitchen into a delightful gastronomic journey. We also wish to thank Maya Najjar, Elizabeth Batal, and Vanessa Salameh.

In the Media

We were very glad when Al Liwaa Newspaper published an article about Ayadina and about all the activities that we have been doing over the past few months.

The main focus of the article is our weekly soup kitchen, and the psychosocial activities that we have been organizing with Himaya Organization.

Here you can find the link to the full article (in Arabic).

PSS Sessions with Himaya

In spite of the two week lock down, we did not wish to halt the weekly sessions with Himaya for the children and the parents. Himaya team members managed to continue the discussions over the phone with all groups, and gave the children some videos to watch at home and some activities to carry out.

Here is a picture of one of the activities carried out by a student at home related to time management during lock down.

Competition Time!

In order to create some fun activities for the parents and the children who are stuck at home, we launched two competitions:

The first competition was for mothers who were invited to write about their daily lives amid the COVID19 pandemic and everything else that came along with it.

It also happened that the 20^th of November is the World Children’s Day (UNICEF). Therefore, we decided to create another competition for our young students who were invited to draw and/or write about whatever subject. We instructed our students to focus on happy positive subjects, rather than focusing on any of the grim news we are bombarded with on a daily basis.

The deadline for both competitions is mid-December. We will be sharing news about the winners and prizes in next month’s newsletter!

October 2020 Newsletter

ayadinax — Sun, 01 Nov 2020 12:38:19 +0000

Dearest Friends and Supporters,

We come to you with this month’s newsletter to share our latest news.

Unfortunately, the Sin El Fil area was under lockdown for most of the month, which meant that we had to cancel many of our planned activities. However, we do have some snippets to share with you!

Ongoing Soup Kitchen Project

In our continuous endeavors to make sure that our activities are as eco-friendly as possible, we have provided our seniors with reusable bags (generously donated by Elle & Vire) and Tupperware containers which we fill with food on a weekly basis. We do all the cleaning and washing of the Tupperware containers ourselves in order to make sure we are meeting hygiene requirements when serving our dear seniors. And how cute are those bags?!

Parenting Workshop with Himaya

We are very excited to have launched a second round of parenting sessions with our partners, Himaya. The themes of the workshop included awareness about sexual abuse and exploitation of children, child rights, issues of early marriage and motherhood, acceptance of other people (diversity), and controlling one’s stress amid crises, etc…

During the two-week lock down, the sessions were held with the mothers over the phone.

“Listen Project” with Himaya

A number of our students continue to attend sessions with Himaya as well, where they learn about positive communication. Percussion instruments are used to create rhythm, while the lyrics focus on the issue of children protection. In this picture, Himaya facilitator Mia is introducing the students to diverse genres of music from around the world. Being exposed to music from around the world teaches children acceptance of other peoples’ culture, habits, and ways of life!

We are also particularly proud of our collaboration with Himaya because they are opening their doors to children who need direct psychological intervention. We are currently receiving frequent calls from parents telling us that their children are struggling with the trauma of the Beirut port explosion. Whenever we receive such calls, we are immediately referring the children to Himaya who have a specialized team of psychologists ready to provide the necessary support to our students.

Preparing our Center

Three months after the Beirut blast, we are still working hard to get our center back to how it used to be. This month, we prepared the Arts & Crafts room that used to be always busy with our talented students. We hope we will be able to welcome them back soon, even if in smaller numbers in accordance with necessary health precautions. We wish to extend our gratitude to everyone who supported us financially and morally in order to continue our work! In this picture you can see our lovely Admin and Arts Program Assistant, non-other than Ms. Vanessa Salameh!

Donation Opportunities

In light of the ongoing financial crisis in Lebanon, we wish to remind our dear friends that Ayadina is always in need of your donations. A mere 50USD can keep a family fed for a whole month. Without your support, we will not be able to resume our other activities. More than ever, our students and parents need art therapy and psycho-social intervention in their lives. We would not be able to fulfill our mission without your generous support. We sincerely believe in Ayadina’s role in helping these children heal.

Below is a link where you can donate:

Just Help: https://www.just-help.org/c/ayadina

You can also visit our website in order to make a direct donation to our bank account in Lebanon:

https://www.ayadinaassociation.org/support-ayadina/

For further information about how to support Ayadina’s Soup Kitchen Project or the Arts Education Program, please do not hesitate to contact us either via email (info@ayadinaassociation.org) or on the phone (+9611266611).

September 2020 Newsletter

ayadinax — Sat, 17 Oct 2020 12:52:20 +0000

Following the difficult month of August, we were more motivated than ever to get to work!

Our center still needed some renovation, so we got to it.

Thanks to the generous donations of our supporters, we were able to paint the whole center in order to have a fresh new start, despite the ongoing challenges we are facing.

Our Heroic Survivors

In August, we were informed that two of our dear students were gravely injured during the 4^th of August explosion. We were heartbroken to learn that our wonderful angels had to go through such a horrendous experience. In a few weeks’ time, they were on their way to a full recovery! We couldn’t but pay them a visit at home to check on them and to give them some love.

Adam and Grace are our heroic survivors! The smiles on their faces warm our hearts and make us want to do nothing but help these angels forget about their traumatic experiences.

Send in the Clowns!

On the 17^th of September, we were delighted when the clowns of Clown Me In paid us a visit, as part of their Comic Relief Tour following the 4^th of August explosion. Our students and their parents walked with the clowns from our center to a close-by park where we all enjoyed a wonderful clown show that addressed important themes, including: wearing face masks, personal hygiene, social distancing, and recycling. We laughed, danced and clowned around!

One of the most beautiful stories we heard following the show was when a mother of one of our students called us to tell us that her little five-year-old had barely spoken a word since the explosion. However, following the show, she rushed home to tell her father all about it! Is this is the magic of art? We think so!

We were particularly happy to see Adam and Grace, the two students who were injured during the blast, present at the show, having a great time! For more pictures of the show, please click on this link here.

Ongoing Soup Kitchen Project

Our Soup Kitchen Project is going stronger than ever! Thursday has quickly become our favorite day of the week. To check out all the photos and stories related to this project, please follow us on Facebook and Instagram. We always wish to thank our generous donors and supporters who contribute to make this project happen every week, feeding 60+ seniors and their families.

Parenting Workshop with Himaya

The first round of parenting sessions with the NGO Himaya came to an end. We can proudly say that the sessions were very fruitful and beneficial for the mothers, and they requested to be included in additional similar activities at Ayadina. The themes of the workshop included awareness about child rights, issues of early marriage and motherhood, acceptance of other people (diversity), controlling one’s stress amid crises, etc…

We are currently coordinating with Himaya to launch a second round of parenting sessions at our center.

Launch of “Listen Project” with Himaya

This month, we launched a new project with Himaya, titled “Listen”, where children learn about positive communication. Percussion instruments are used to create rhythm, while the lyrics focus on the issue of children protection. They also learn about diversity by being exposed to music from around the world. Other skills the children will be learning are team work and experimentation with listening. We are so excited about this collaboration!

Donation Opportunities

Below is a link where you can donate:

Just Help: https://www.just-help.org/c/ayadina

You can also visit our website in order to make a direct donation to our bank account in Lebanon:

https://www.ayadinaassociation.org/support-ayadina/

Parenting Workshop with Himaya

ayadinax — Sat, 12 Sep 2020 22:00:16 +0000

Following the Beirut explosion, our parents and students need psychosocial intervention more than ever. Therefore, Himaya Association resumed their sessions with the parents immediately the week following the sad event. However, in light of the imposed lock down, the sessions were held over the phone and not face to face. The below picture was taken prior to the explosion and the lock down.

Further to that, we are currently working on launching a psycho-social support project with Himaya but for young children. We will keep you posted about this project in future newsletters.

Ongoing Soup Kitchen Project

ayadinax — Sat, 12 Sep 2020 21:57:07 +0000

48 hours after the explosion, our premises were cleaned up, we managed to resume our Soup Kitchen activities.
Luckily enough, we received a lot of donations of food in the month of August, in support of our Soup Kitchen Project. We are also seeking to renovate our kitchen in order to be able to better serve our seniors.
We were also super excited to be wearing our new Ayadina masks! During our work, we never forget to maintain all hygiene measures in order to protect our seniors. In compliance with eco-friendly recommendations, we also encourage them to bring their own reusable Tupperware, in order not to throw away a lot of the plastic containers.

August 2020 Newsletter

ayadinax — Wed, 12 Aug 2020 22:03:33 +0000

The month of August 2020 has been a very difficult month for us, along with the rest of the Lebanese people all over the world. The repercussions of the explosion continue to weigh heavy on all of us.

As Ayadina team, we extend our condolences again to everyone who lost a loved one in the deadly explosion of August 4. We wish speedy recovery for everyone who got injured. During such difficult times, we pick up the pieces, sweep the broken glass, wipe away the tears, and get back to work… because it is at times like these that we, as humanitarian workers, need to put in the biggest effort.

Here are some pictures of the damage that happened at our office, and some pictures of the renovation we did afterwards.

We wish to take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributed to support the renovation of our office. Without your generous donations, we wouldn’t have been able to fix everything up so quickly and to get back to work.