‘Our job as educators is to provide a beacon of light and rebuild’ | Photo of ‘Our Lady of Lebanon’ by Nabih El Boustani on Unsplash
Learning difficulties: Paul High on Brummana High School
‘The school’s promotion of tolerance has been central to its academic excellence.’
While the situation in much of the Middle East is troubling, British Friends need to have a particular concern for Lebanon.It has been almost one year since we all saw the devastating Beirut port explosion, on 4 August 2020. But it has also now been nearly two years since the Lebanese Lira went into freefall – it is now just ten per cent of its former value against the US dollar. As a result businesses are struggling to manage and unemployment is a staggering fifty per cent. Inflation means that even those with incomes face extreme difficulties purchasing essential goods and services for their families. This month’s World Bank report put the Lebanese financial crisis in the top ten, and ‘possibly top three’, most severe crises in the country since the mid-nineteenth century.
