People from Batroun tried to know the reason behind the delay of the Australian donation for the Catholic schools in Lebanon.
In September 2021, donors from Australia said that they will provide a donation of 50,000 laptops to be distributed free of charge to students in Catholic schools in Lebanon.
Batroun schools have been expecting since then to be the first to receive their laptops, since Archbishop Antoine-Charbel Tarabay, who is from Tannourine, is the link between donors in Sydney and the Catholic schools of Lebanon.
According to Nidaa Al-Watan, activists in Batroun tried to follow up with the General Secretariat of Catholic Schools, Father Youssef Nasr, but they didn’t receive an answer.
Father Youssef Nasr told Nidaa Al-Watan that they haven’t received the laptops yet.
“I met Archbishop Tarabay last June, and he told me that the donation was supposed to arrive soon. But I don’t know why we have not received any laptops yet,” he said.
He added: “The reason may be the closure of borders imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Archbishop Tarabay told us that the equipment will arrive, starting next September, in batches.”
“We intend to start distributing it to the neediest students. It will not be distributed randomly, but according to criteria,” he explained.
He mentioned that the Catholic schools in the Bekaa and the North will be given more laptops than others because they are more in need.
