«My father wanted me to get engaged. There was a young man from Aleppo whose family had been living in Lebanon for several years who wanted to marry me. I succeeded with my mother's help in deterring my father. I don't want to marry until I'm 18,» says Farah, 15, from Idlib, who has lived in Lebanon for eight years. Farah is the eldest of a family of seven daughters. She lives in the village of Kleiat in Akkar and like her mother Fatima, she received training from the NGO «Akkar Network for Development» (AND) under a UNICEF program called «Qudwa». This program is being conducted in cooperation with the Lebanese Ministry of Social Affairs and aims, among other things, to prevent child labor, teenage marriage and domestic violence against women.
«I was mostly afraid of the expected responsibilities if I got married, of complications in case of childbirth. I was also afraid of running into an abusive husband,» says Farah, who left school and dreams of becoming a hairdresser last year. She thus repeats what she learned during the session of the AND.
«I don't want my daughter to get married before she is 18,» adds Fatima, «I will fight for my seven children till the end. I want my daughters to still have a normal childhood,» she says.
In the Bekaa, a young teenager benefits from the same program, set up by the NGO «Himaya». Ahmed, 14, left Serghaya district in Syria at the age of 11 to settle with his mother, younger brother and sisters in Baalbeck. He is responsible for his family, including a divorced sister with an infant.
Ahmed admits that he never liked school, even when he was in Syria. When he moved to Lebanon, he started working in an Internet café every day from 9am to 1am in the morning (16 hours per day) for 5000 Lebanese Pounds a day. «It was very tiring, besides, the customers hit me, and gave me very strong patting on the back and neck. I was only 11 years old,» he recalls.
Today, thanks to the intervention of «Himaya», Ahmed was able to follow a remediation course, where he is once again learning to read and write. He should then complete technical training. He plans to become a mechanic. «It's a job that will allow me to make a good living,» he hopes.
«The «Qudwa» program aims to develop an enabling environment for the adoption of protective behaviors for women, girls and boys, and to promote positive individual attitudes towards the promotion of health care, non-violent behaviors and the empowerment of girls and women,» states UNICEF. «It is the targeted communities that are entitled to act and lead change. This program includes around 38 activities focused on educational entertainment, community engagement, social mobilization and capacity building,» the source added.
Nevertheless, change in social behavior takes time to become apparent. It will take years to be defined. Yet already in the Bekaa and North Lebanon, where the program is being implemented, small social changes are being noticed, particularly with regard to domestic violence, child protection, and even women's role in the family.