Those who imagine that Dar Al Aytam Al Islamiya is lodged in an old fashioned insignificant building will be surprised when they discover that the Centre is located in a great structure with coloured walls, open to cars and bus traffic and comprising playing and sports fields and a garden..
Dar Al Aytam offers shelter to orphans and children abandoned by their families and provides them with care and education. Moreover all formalities are accomplished to provide them with a nationality and identity card in compliance with the Lebanese legislation and the conventions on the rights of the child.
The Manhaj al Is’ad program was set up in 1962 in order to educate and deliver from misery the children of the centre. The Institutions have succeeded in establishing new programs which brought joy and happinness to children through art and singing therapies, so successful that some of the children managed to enrol in external schools.
Today the mention of Dar Al Aytam Al Islamiya arouses confidence and respect from the specialised public. And the centre is often visited by research teams who are interested in watching the programs as they are implemented on the ground.
In the neighbourhood of Tariq Jdide, Dar Al Aytam Al Islamiya gathers four institutions aimed at children and teenagers and a centre for the youth:
Dar Al Toufoula – House of childhoold – Selim Edriss Building
The childhood cause, which is central to fractured families, social under-development and poverty issues, has always been a priority for Dar Al Aytam. Our institution is committed to first study and assess the situation of the orphans and children deprived of their families, and then to provide them with education, training, activities and proper leisure time.
Built in 1933, Dar Al Toufoula building is named after «Doctor Selim Edriss» in tribute to this benefactor and Ex. President of Dar Al Aytam , and accomodates on its premises today 236 eight to ten-year old boys and girls.
Dar El Ekhwa – House of brotherhood – Hajj Saad Eddine Faroukh Building
The House of brotherhood was created in 1945 and accomodates today 219 five to seven-year old children, during the crucial period that separates total dependence towards the mother from the beginning of independence. The building bears the name of «Hajj Saad Eddine Mohamad Faroukh» who acted as the institution treasurer for half a century.
Dar Al Fatat – House of girls - Mohamad Ali Beyhum Building
Initiated in 1948, the House of girls accomodates 230 eleven to fourteen-year old girls whose brothers are lodged in other centres, with a view to preserving family ties. Their elder sisters, as the case may be, are accomodated into the Mohamad Ramadan Foundation in Uzaï, where they are provided with education and training to enable them to prepare to their future role as mothers, family providers and dynamic workers.
The House of girls building has received the name of «Mohamad Ali Beyhum», a public figure who presided the SWI Board of Trustees at the time when Dar Al Aytam Al Islamiya developed outside the limits of Beirut.
The 1948 year remains in our memory as the year of the exile of the Palestinians who were driven out of their country, amongst them the children of Akka and Yafa orphanages who were warmly welcomed and sheltered by Dar Al Aytam Al Islamiya, which led to the contruction of the new «Mohamad Ali Beyhum» building in order to accomodate the increasing number of children.
Dar Al Saada – House of happiness – Riad Beik Al Solh Building
Initiated in 1950, the House of happiness accomodates 352 eleven to twelve-year old boys who pursue their schooling in external establishments.
The building of the House of happiness has been named after «Riad Beik Al Solh» in tribute to the President Al Solh who was a firm supporter of Dar Al Aytam Al Islamiya.
Dar Al Chabab
This vocational school has started in 1970 and accomodates 205 thirteen to eighteen-year-old teenagers, and is renowned for the high quality of its training programs.
Centre of Prevention and Care
Within Dar Al Aytam Al Islamiya, the Centre of prevention and care manages medical exams as well as diagnosis, vaccination and screenings. Its specialised staff provides also consultations and medical treatment and prevention as well as dental care.
Our physicians practice regular medical screenings and cure common child diseases and provide parents with informative publications and awareness sessions.
Medical cases which require surgery are oriented towards specialised hospitals outside the Centre.
The Nutrition Centre
The Nutrition Centre provides thousands of meals to the beneficiaries of this program, which requires tons of meat, cereals, vegetables, fruits and desserts, in accordance with the healthy nutrition standards as well as a carefully chosen calorific value in order to guarantee a heathy growth to the children and to compensate any previous nutritional shortcomings.
The Centre of exhaustive nutrition publishes on a monthly basis a list of the three daily meals composition as required for a normal and sane growth of the children.
The building of the Centre is entitled «President Rachid Karame» as a tribute to the attention that this great man devoted to the Centre and its children.
«President Chafic Al Wazzan and His Spouse Mrs. Wajiha Edriss Al Wazzan» Medical Clinic for a healthy and balanced diet
The idea of a medical office dedicated to the promotion of a healthy and balanced diet emerged in 2016, on the basis of the targets set out by the Social Welfare Institutions in Lebanon - Dar Al Aytam Al Islamiya, with a view to provide a comprehensive assistance to their beneficiaries, in particular regarding physical health in accordance with diets change. This project was implemented thanks to the generous goodwill of Mrs. Sawsan Al Wazzan Jabri, as a tribute to the memory of her parents, His Excellency President Chafic Al Wazzan and his spouse, Mrs. Wajiha Edriss Al Wazzan, and as a result of her endeavour to create and manage such establishment with a team of specialists’ assistance.
This medical office offers its assistance to all the Institutions’ beneficiaries. Its services extend from Dar Al Aytam Al Islamiya principal centre to all the Institutions’ centres and complexes, in Beirut and the Lebanese regions, in order to meet the needs of children with eating disorders (bulimia or anorexia) and of the neighbouring most disadvantaged populations.
Admission
The Admission is in charge with the follow-up of the individuals, the reduced and enlarged families and their environment, with a view to improve the life of the people and the society in general.
The Reception centre ensures the management of the volunteers and benefactors, the help provided to school children and students, as well as the preparation, planning and implementing of the family support programs and the follow-up of the social, economical, psychological and sanitary development of the children who are beneficiaries of the Institutions programs.
Main activities:
• Reception of various genders, confessions, social classes visitors in need of help and support, with a view to guide them towards the services that correspond to their needs
• Reception and distribution of the in kind and financial donations on a daily basis
• Material and moral sponsorship within the Institutions
• Assistance to the children of the Institutions who are in need of family support
• Assistance and regular follow-up to the families of the beneficiaries
• Reception of school, college and university students who want to make a research on the Institutions and their programs
• Reception of the volunteers, examination and follow-up of their applications
Polarisation Centre
The Polarisation Centre takes care of needy families with children. The social workers assess their situation through regular visits at home in order to confirm the collected information regarding the families, and take the proper decisions in accordance with the support programs.
The Centre cooperates with various civil and public institutions in order to guarantee the accuracy of the collected information and the needs of the concerned families.
Family support and care programs
1. Al Aman home for widows and their children
2. Family care
3. Early intervention program
4. Preparation of young girls to marriage and motherhood
1. Al Aman home for widows and their children
The Al Aman program has been launched in 1982 to respond to the growing needs of orphans and socially disadvantaged children.
This program provides care and attention to the orphan and his family by providing a material and moral help to the mother with a view to strengthen her role and insure the family autonomy and cohesion, in accordance with the rights of child standards. The staff who visits the families invest their efforts into reinforcing the psychological balance of the mothers.
Since 1982, Dar Al Aytam Al Islamiya has responded to the needs of thousands of families of widows and their children. As a result, and thanks to Allah and our social workers teams (each of them being in charge with several families), hundreds of children have gained access to university education and work opportunities, and are able today to ensure their own and their families subsistence.
2. Family care
The Institutions have set up a Family care program which provides in kind help to face up to the aggravation of the economical and social situation and essential goods prices and schooling costs rise. This program includes also families with no revenue (aged widows and widowers) and families which main provider is sick, incapacitated or in a handicap situation.
In kind help is regularly distributed by the Centre of social care, thanks to the food donations and other donations provided by our benefactors. In close collaboration with the Polarisation centre, the families in need are identified and invited to collect their food parcels at the centre.
The family care is based on accurate social researches and analysis undertaken by our teams who visit regularly the families in accordance with the established criteria, such as lack of revenue, old age or work inability.
3. Early intervention program for mothers of children with special physical or mental needs
Since 1994, this program is destined to mothers of children with special physical or mental needs, in order to support them and help them cope with their child handicap. The program includes training provided through home visits and providing education training.
4. Preparation of young girls to marriage and motherhood
In order to cope with the difficult teenage stage and to minimise the conjugal problems leading to family instability and divorce, we have implemented since 2012 a program specially conceived for young girls. This program comprises courses and training in sanitary, social and psychological basic knowledge aiming at preparing efficiently the girls to marriage and motherhood.