Lebanon: Rebuilding Care and Supporting Learning
March 13, 2026: When Beirut was shattered by the explosion of August 4, 2020, the damage reached far beyond the port. Hospitals were torn apart. Families were displaced. Ordinary routines vanished overnight. In the middle of that devastation, Rotary clubs in Lebanon and around the world moved quickly to help restore the essentials of life and begin the long work of rebuilding.
RCWO became part of that effort through District 7040. In the first days after the blast, support was already being organized through Rotary channels in Lebanon and Canada. Within weeks, the scale of the crisis was painfully clear: six Beirut hospitals had been completely damaged, and Rotary clubs were responding not only with funding, but also with hands-on cleanup, coordination, and the delivery of urgently needed medical equipment.
What followed was not a single burst of emergency aid. It became a sustained commitment to children, families, and recovery: restoring hospital care in Beirut, supporting vulnerable children in Lebanon, helping families displaced by conflict, and later, placing practical school supplies directly into the hands of students in Baalbek.
Rebuilding care for children in Beirut
One of the most important parts of that response centered on Karantina Public Hospital in Beirut: the city’s only public hospital and a place known for serving vulnerable paediatric patients. Rotary partners worked together to restore paediatric care there, rebuilding the ward with furnishings, beds, and operating-room equipment needed to help children receive treatment again.
RCWO played a real part in that larger story. By December 2020, the club had contributed $8,047 toward the children’s hospital effort in Beirut. The work continued well beyond the first months after the blast. By July 2021, 150 clubs had participated in the Karantina project, raising almost US$400,000, and the reopening of the paediatric ward was scheduled for August 4, 2021: exactly one year after the explosion.
This was Rotary at its best: moving from emergency response to tangible rebuilding, and helping a damaged hospital recover its ability to care for children whose families had nowhere else to turn. The Lebanon story is not a single act of relief. It is a story of rebuilding: hospital by hospital, classroom by classroom, family by family.
Supporting families and children beyond the hospital
RCWO’s work in Lebanon did not stop with hospital recovery. In the years that followed, the club continued to support projects focused on children and families. The 2023–24 Year in Review includes a $5,000 international service allocation for Handicapped Children, Lebanon. In December 2024, the club also set a goal of raising $9,000 to provide food, heating, and other essentials for 50 families displaced by conflict.
These projects may be different in scale and form, but they are connected by the same impulse: responding where help is needed most, and helping children and families regain some measure of stability.
Supporting learning in Baalbek
That same spirit is visible at the Baalbek Kindergarten School Complex. In 2025, RCWO helped provide a comprehensive set of stationery and office supplies for students there: practical tools for daily learning, classroom activities, and the smooth operation of the school. Coordinated with PDG Hadi Mortada, the RCWO International Service Committee, and Dr. Mohammad Daher, the project ensured the materials reached the school directly.
The impact is easy to see in the photographs. Students hold up their kits with pride. Markers, folders, paper, and classroom materials are laid out and ready for use. These are simple things, but that is exactly why they matter. They are used immediately. They support teachers immediately. And they help children walk into class with what they need immediately.
In her letter of thanks, the school’s director, Maha Al-Rifai, described the donation as support for “the smooth functioning of the school” and for “active and impactful educational activities.” Those words capture exactly what this project achieved. It was not abstract help. It was practical, immediate, and woven directly into the daily life of the classroom.
On the ground in the classroom
What makes the Lebanon story so compelling is that it moves across very different kinds of need while holding on to the same human centre. In Beirut, it meant helping restore a hospital’s ability to care for children after catastrophe. In Baalbek, it meant helping a school function well enough for students to learn, create, and grow.
These are not separate stories. They are chapters of the same one. When a child has access to medical care, when a family can meet basic needs, and when a school has the materials required for learning, the result is bigger than a single project. It is a step toward stability, dignity, and hope.
From Beirut to Baalbek, RCWO’s work in Lebanon has been about more than relief. It has been about helping communities rebuild the foundations of everyday life: care for children, support for families, and real tools for learning. That is what makes this story matter. It is not only about what was given. It is about what was restored.
Lebanon timeline
August 2020: RCWO joins the early Rotary response through District 7040.
December 2020: RCWO contributes $8,047 toward the children’s hospital effort in Beirut.
July 2021: Karantina project reaches almost US$400,000 with 150 clubs participating.
2023–24: RCWO includes $5,000 for Handicapped Children, Lebanon.
December 2024: RCWO sets a $9,000 goal to help 50 displaced families.
2025: RCWO donates school supplies to Baalbek Kindergarten School Complex.
Reference list
- Rotary Club of West Ottawa Spinoff, August 11, 2020.
- Rotary Club of West Ottawa Spinoff, August 25, 2020.
- Rotary Club of West Ottawa Spinoff, July 6, 2021.
- Rotary Club of West Ottawa, Year in Review 2023–24.
- Rotary Club of West Ottawa Spinoff, December 10, 2024.
- Letter from Maha Al-Rifai, Director, Baalbek Kindergarten School Complex, Baalbek, Lebanon, November 25, 2025.