Feeling deeply isolated and anxious after being bullied at school, 16-year-old Sami went home he turned his anger on his mother, who responded in kind. This mirroring of violence with violence could have kept escalating—but thanks to the intervention of himaya, their stormy episode has a sunny outcome.
Himaya protects kids like Sami by offering them psychosocial support to reduce their anxiety and build up their confidence. Thanks to this counseling, Sami has made a great progress: he began talking about his relationship to his parents and difficulties socializing.
“I think the real issue here is to understand that very often in our culture, violence is used as a means to get a message through, to communicate. But what we fail to see is that every attempt in violence is a failed attempt,” says himaya’s HR and communication officer, psychologist Kim Heshmé.
Operating in schools across Lebanon with founding partner Arcenciel, himaya works with whole families of at-risk children to make sure their environment ensures their success. Since 2009, it has promoted the global protection of innocence in danger through three programs: training, education, and “resilience”.
Training programs aims to raise awareness about child abuse among youth, and offers them self-protection and life skills, including body image and intimacy, internet safety, children’s rights, and responses to bullying. Centers also offer psychosocial and legal support, education, therapeutic workshops and recreational activities to victims of abuse, as well as food and accommodation.
In cooperation with Apostolat des Laïcs – Liban, World Vision in Lebanon and Majd, himaya is inviting every child to attend its training program and forum in which he/she learns his/her basic rights. This event will take place on Sunday the 16th of March at “Ecole des Frères”- Gemmayze.
For more info – himaya’s Facebook page and website
