Pens Make Girls Strong

©Gehrke Ralph-Ludwig

Last year, the German World Day of Prayer Committee collected more than 30 tons of used pens for Syrian girls in Lebanon. The revenue of this campaign made school education and psychological support for many girls possible.  

Since the beginning of the war in Syria, more than one million people have fled to the neighbouring Lebanon. Among them were around 400,000 children between the ages of 5 and 17. Two thirds of them have not seen the inside of a classroom  for years.

This is why the partner organisation of WDP Germany, Beit el-Nour ("House of Light and Hope"), has set up an educational programme that serves around 200 girls. The girls go to school and have a chance to learn in a quiet environment away from the refugee camp, where they face so many hardships. War and terror have severely traumatized most of the girls who were forced to flee their home. At Beit el-Nour they receive psycho-social and pedagogical support too.

True to the theme of World Day of Prayer 2018 from Suriname "God’s Creation is Very Good!", the German World Day of Prayer Committee has launched the recycling campaign "Pens Make Girls Strong". For more than a year, people all over Germany have collected used pens at over 2,000 collection points: in parishes, schools and kindergarten classes, offices, stores, supermarkets, medical clinics, universities, libraries and even at police stations.

The pens all ended up at a recycling company and were converted into watering cans or pen holders. For each pen, the company donated one cent to the World Day of Prayer. The money collected was used to support the educational project of Beit el-Nour. For 450 pens, the equivalent of 4.50 euros, a girl can be provided with school materials. So far, more than 30 tons of pens have been received, which corresponds to the possibility of supporting the education of more Syrian refugee girls. 

---

- ​Corinna Russow, WDP Germany