2Nd Open Discussion On Volunteering In Lebanon

NGOs, service institutions, universities, schools, government agencies and individuals who wish to promote, facilitate, or improve volunteering in Lebanon are invited to actively participate in the 2nd Open Discussion on Volunteering in Lebanon on Wednesday, June 11 at 7-9 pm at AltCity, Montreal Building, Hamra Street (www.altcity.me).
During our first session, on May 22, there was a lively discussion of the difference between Lebanese volunteering and American volunteering, and the difference between volunteering in Lebanon in the past and in the present. There was also some discussion of whether promoting "volunteering" can actually stifle a natural tendency to help others or is needed, especially now that traditional forms of mutual support are decreasing. It was noted in this regard, that informal volunteering was a part of Lebanese culture in the past. For example, women would come together to make ma'ajanat for a wedding in their village. Now people usually have such food catered to have uniform pastries, show their financial strength, and avoid social obligations, but at the cost of eliminating such opportunities for social bonding.
It was decided:

to continue meeting, and
to have as an initial goal to try to organize a national celebration of International Volunteer Day on December 5 -
to create an organizing committee for Global Youth Service Days, held every year in April. We might even create a National Youth Volunteer Week that would include the three days of Global Youth Service Days.

Other suggestions were

to gather some NGO’s and International structures (UNV; UNHCR, Euromed, etc) to agree on a common charter on our vision of voluntary service in Lebanon,
to create an informal network of partners, and
to create a website “Volunteers Lebanon” that would collect all the internet websites of the structures involved in that network.

The session on June 11 will be in English, though interventions in Arabic will be welcome. Space is limited, so it would be helpful if you would send a message to [email protected] with your contact information and your intent to attend.
You are encouraged to share this invitation with others you feel would be interested.