Activity Report 2010 - Sovereign Military Order of Malta in the United ...

Dr.Hoda Issa, child psychologist: ‘These youngsters knew frightening times.’ Traumatised, they reveal their anxieties through their drawings
free breakfast and coffee to the elderly
inhabitants and has been so successful
that two more have been set up.
They serve 60 square kilometres around
Roum, and are run by two groups from
Sidon, staff and volunteers who care for
an increasingly ageing population (by
2020, 60% of Lebanese will be over 65).
‘Most of the elderly are women, 75% are
Christian, the rest Muslim. Inflation is
running at about 60%; the cost of fuel
rose by 60% in the last eighteen
months,’ says volunteer Tania Haddad.
There is no government support for
these needy groups.
As the car snakes back down the
mountain through Roum, along its
skyline are profiled a huddle of roof
tops, the famed cedars of Lebanon, a
church spire and the dome of a mosque.
Next stop is Bhannès, north east of
Beirut. The Centre has two special
concerns supported by the Order – a
balneo-therapy centre for disabled
adults and a home for disabled children.
At the former is Jean-Marie, a French
physiotherapist who, on visiting the
Centre some years ago, was so inspired
that he sold up everything and has come
to live and work here. The focal point is
the swimming pool for hydrotherapy, a
donation from the Lebanese Association,
Ordre de Malte France and the
European Union.
Sr. Marie-Geneviève takes us around the
well appointed establishment for the
young disabled. They are cared for with
love and commitment by the sisters and
the medical and support staff.
The Centre offers as many possibilities
for development – mental, physical, and
interests such as art, music, computers,
languages – as they can manage.
The children are full of joy and as we
meet them, their faces light up. All
except Leila, a diminutive four-year-old
with huge raisin eyes and soft curly hair,
who shrinks into a corner. Her special
needs teacher explains that she is very
sad because she realises her mother
doesn’t love her. ‘She is inconsolable,’
he says.
Arriving at the age of five, all must leave
at 16, making way for others, returning
to their poor neighbourhoods, with
nothing to do and no hope of employment.
Many fall into deep depression.
There are no compensatory social
services in the country for this age group.
We visit some of the classes and find
Issa, three, born without arms, using his
feet to lift a bottle of water to drink with
great dexterity, amid applause from the
visitors. And then Samer, 15, who can
work on a computer and proudly
completes arithmetical problems online
without help. On leaving this setting full
of light and love, Sr. Genevieve quotes
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: ‘With joy,
the more that is given, the more it
multiplies!’
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SOVEREIGN MILITARY HOSPITALLER ORDER OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM OF RHODES AND OF MALTA