NEWSLETTERS

March 31, 2005

In spite of the tense situation in Lebanon with all the strikes and demonstrations and counter demonstrations, as well as the threats to the internal security, we managed to preserve our regular programs and provide our services (almost) normally.

We would like to share the recent events that took place at I’dad Center for this period with our readers.

Teacher’s Day | The I’dad’s Basket Ball Team | Mother’s Day | Easter Holiday | Birthdays | Spring is here | New play material | Volunteers | End year ceremony | Remunerations for new students | Visit by a Representative from a Norwegian Association | Administrative issues |

Teacher’s Day

Teachers and students celebrated together Teacher's Day on the 8th of March by holding a big party at the cafeteria whereby small speeches were delivered by the students themselves followed by funny imitations of some of the teachers as well as the Director by the students, along with singing and dancing.

The I’dad’s Basket Ball Team

On the 16th of March, our Basket-Ball team participated in the Basket-Ball Tournament organized by the Special Olympics Committee at the Riyadi Club in Raouche. Our students played very well, and came out third best players among 14 participating associations, and won gold medals for their performance. The rest of our students were there also, cheering and shouting slogans for I’dad to encourage our players.

Mother’s Day

Due to the political and security unrest in the country, unfortunately, we were not able to organize a special event for Mothers' Day on March 21 (the initial plan was to invite all the mothers to I’dad to celebrate that day with their children). However, all students took home beautiful presents to their mothers, which they had carefully prepared in their classes as well as through the creative expertise of Ms. N. Abu Jawdeh, the occupational therapist. Moreover, the girls in the sewing program, monitored by Mrs. B. Sharafeddine, prepared exquisite shawls for their mothers.

Easter Holiday

On March 24, and in the occasion of Western Easter, we organized a big Egg-Hunt at Idad: the staff hid hundreds of chocolate eggs almost everywhere in the Center and children were allowed to search for eggs, in a crazy race for the "hidden treasure" ! It was quite a noisy, but extremely funny and happy experience...

Birthdays

Also on March 24, we celebrated a group birthday-party for 5 of our students born in the month of March (W. Kansso, R. Halabi, W. Torbey, L. Abbas and D. Bazzi). The party took place at the cafeteria, and the children sang and danced and ate delicious birthday cakes delicately prepared by our Ms. K. Dheyneh, from the cooking section.

Spring is here

The surrounding green fields of I’dad Center grounds are flourishing and flowering in bright colors. We took the advantage of the beautiful weather and organized many outings to the fields to pick wild flowers to decorate the classrooms and lounges of the center.

New play material

The preschool children are enjoying playing ‘house’ and ‘cook’ during their recess sessions with the newly purchased play kitchen corner, dolls, ironing sets, and other ‘house play material’.

Volunteers

Two new volunteers have joined the I’dad Center, they are students from the American University of Beirut. Maya and Maha are coming on regular basis, twice a week to actively assist the teachers in the class rooms. Mayssa, who had been volunteering since February, expressed her wish to teach English as part of her volunteer work. She will take over the English class that Mrs. N. Maher, one of our devoted mothers and dedicated member of the Friends of the Disabled Association, has been giving since the beginning of this scholastic year in a very systematic (and fun!) way. Mrs. Maher cannot continue her volunteering work with us in April, due to personal reasons, but will be sporadically visiting the Center to check on her students and follow up their development in the English language. We are all going to miss the extremely pleasant Mrs. Maher and her joyful presence among us.

End year ceremony

All the classes have started preparing special dances for the End of the Year Ceremony. On an almost daily basis, the adult students are training for the Lebanese Dabke (Sabah's hit Al-Nadda) and they simply love it...Even students with autism are participating wholeheartedly!

Remunerations for new students

Starting the month of March symbolic remunerations will be paid to four of I’dad’s students who have been assisting teachers and trainers on a daily basis: one student assists Ms. Z. Noun in the Autistic section and is being a wonderful aid; the second is assisting Mr. R. Mansour in the classroom; and another two are assisting Mr. M. Darwish in the vocational training section.

Visit by a Representative from a Norwegian Association

The Friends of the Disabled Association was visited on March 24th, by Mr. Knutt Roger Andersen, Head of International Department for the Norwegian Association for Persons with Developmental disabilities. Mr. Knutt spent the whole-day with the children and staff members, we felt that he enjoyed his visit since he took many photographs and video filmed the activities of that day.

Administrative issues

• The Director has prepared new form of "medical history record" for all students enrolled at I’dad and was sent out to the parents to fill in. The requested information in the new form focused on allergy conditions and additional medical issues for each student. The received information is to be consolidated and logged into the personal records of every student, and discussed with their teachers.
• The month of March is Evaluation Month for the staff members. The existing evaluation forms have been enhanced to highlight additional specific points of evaluation. The final evaluation outcome for this year will be discussed with the concerned staff member in a discrete manner, and have his/her understanding of the performance assessment allowing him/her to defend.