A Scholarship for Lebanon’s Students

Brummana High School in Lebanon is one of the many schools worldwide that shares an affiliation with Leighton Park through our mutual Quaker heritage. The situation in Lebanon has continued to escalate since the 2020 explosion in Beirut’s port which devastated much of the city. The World Bank has described the country’s economic crisis as ‘deliberate depression’ and ranked it as one of the top three most severe global financial crises since the mid-nineteenth century, according to the Human Rights Watch website, www.hrw.org.

Brummana High School has understandably struggled to continuing to offer a Quaker education to a full roll of students against this financial backdrop. Earlier this year the Head of Brummana approached Leighton Park for assistance and the School has responded by offering to provide one full bursary, on average equivalent to £515.

Amicus, the Sixth Form Charity group, were fundraise to support this formal offer and raised over £500 earlier this year through the selling of roses on Valentine’s Day. The money was transferred to Brummana at the start of March, making a big difference to the students in Lebanon.

Amicus member, William, explained, “We have been exchanging emails with Stephanie Z who belongs to the equivalent of Amicus at Brummana and it feels like we are closing the gap between our communities. I think it is a really great thing that Leighton Park are doing for another Quaker community. The Ukraine crisis has made it hard to focus but they are going through an unfortunate and unlucky situation and I think this is a decent thing we can do to support a school with the same values as us.”

Amicus are now working on plans for the Summer to fundraise by covering the distance between Brummana and Leighton Park (3,500 kms or 2,175 miles) by rowing, running, walking or cycling. The Collect on Friday 25^th March will focus on the launch of the appeal prior to the Easter break to ensure everyone returned ready to help make a difference next term.