With the current economic crisis, Lebanon’s streets have been running rampant with children. Whether beggars and street vendors or delivery boys and laborers, one thing we can all say for certain: The streets are no place for a child.
With that mission at heart, the Lebanese Makhzoumi Foundation has launched an initiative to offer these impoverished children a safe haven of support and recreation. And its channel rolls on wheels!
The ‘Fun Bus’ has been roaming the streets of Beirut, picking youngsters along the way for a few hours of fun away from the hustle and bustle of their difficult day-to-day lives.
Via UNHCR Lebanon and Makhzoumi Foundation
The daily job of the ‘Fun Bus’ is not about taking the children for a ride around the city. It hosts a variety of programs run by volunteers.
From basic literacy and numeracy classes to handcraft and psychosocial support activities, all is provided to the kids with a caring focus on the aim.
Funded by the European Union, the ‘Fun Bus’ initiative is part of a wider project by UNHCR and its partners that aims to “eventually stop children from working on the streets altogether.”
So far, the bus has reached hundreds of children working in Beirut, most of whom are from the 1.5 million Syrian refugees currently living in Lebanon.
These young children are often forced to work to help support their families. The Fun Bus has come into their lives to bring them some relief and support and put a smile on their faces and hope in their hearts.