Volunteer Opportunities Needed For Visiting Mughtaribeen

The Learning to CARE Institute (LTCI) has been invited to partner with a new social venture in their production of a magazine targeted to مغتربين (people of Lebanese heritage) returning to Lebanon during different seasons of the year. They plan to launch the magazine with an issue for those coming to Lebanon over the Christmas holidays (November 15-January 15), with future issues focused on Ramadan and Summer 2015.
LTCI will draft an article for the magazine about volunteering of the mughtaribeen, appropriate to the season and to their circumstances. And we would then like to provide a list of at least 20 volunteer opportunities of different sorts to fit people of different ages, religious identities, and regions of the country. Ideally, at least some of these volunteer opportunities would allow and encourage cross over on all three counts. Some opportunities might be for individual volunteers, some for people who would volunteer in groups. Some could be opportunities for intergenerational volunteering, so that members of a family volunteer could together as special shared experience. Some of the volunteer opportunities might need special skills, expertise, or knowledge, while others could be done by anyone.
This first issue will only be in English, and communications with the participating organizations or institutions will be in English, but hopefully future editions will be in Arabic as well as the different languages of the Lebanese diaspora. That does not mean that the volunteer opportunity has to be in English. Specific language fluency can be one of the details to be listed in the requirements for the position.
If your NGO is interested in the project and would like further information please fill in the brief online questionnaire. I will be leaving Lebanon for the summer on June 15, so most interaction will need to be by email or Skype, but if you would like to meet me or ask anything about the project, you are invited to attend the 2nd Open Discussion on Volunteering in Lebanon on Wednesday, June 11 from 7:00-9:00 pm at AltCity. While this project will not be the focus of the discussion session, I will give a brief description of the project as part of the discussion. I can also meet with people about it briefly before or after the discussion session (6:30-7 and 9-9:30). And within the coming month I will send information to those who sign up, giving more information about the project, and asking for them to complete a more detailed questionnaire about the organization and the volunteer opportunities it can offer.
Dr. Patricia Nabti
Director, Learning to CARE Institute

Overall Objectives: 
• Give mughtaribeen (people of Lebanese heritage) the chance to volunteer during their visits to Lebanon. • Create stronger bonds between Lebanon and its diaspora • Increase the pool of volunteers • Serve a variety of social needs
Activities: 
Their volunteer opportunities could include painting, planting, sewing, visiting the elderly, helping those with disabilities, building or renovating a building, cleaning and improving a park, playing with children, translating, developing a website, singing, dancing, juggling, reading to the blind, visiting the sick, giving a presentation, teaching a skill, visiting people in prison, helping refugees or other displaced people, writing a proposal, joining an advocacy campaign. The possibiltiies are endless. But all the opportunities should give the volunteers the opportunity to feel that they made a positive difference in the country.
Start Date
Sat, 15/11/2014 - 2:00am
Project Status
N/A
Project Timeframe
N/A
Intervention Sector(s):
Children & Youth, Education, Environment, Refugees
Project Location:
Beirut
Lebanon
Beirut LB
Collaboration with Other Organisations
The institutions that host the volunteers can be organizations, service institutions, schools, universities, municipalities, or ministries.
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