"Our parents’ divorce has been very difficult on me and my siblings. Our father got remarried and started a new family, leaving us behind. Our mother could not make ends meet and we were kicked out of school because we couldn’t afford the tuition. I came across cirquenciel (arcenciel’s circus school) and after joining I shared my and my siblings’ stories with our teachers. At that point we had been out of school for two years. Cirquenciel introduced us to arcenciel’s social unit, which in turn settled our fees at our former school, as well as registered us all in a new school. We are all studying there now. I don’t know what would have happened if it hadn’t been for arcenciel’s help."

Mohamed

“My brother Khalil (who is now 10) and I come from a family which has been through severe financial struggles. Our dad works as a technician, and our mum is unemployed. We need help for many things, like food and healthcare. We have learning difficulties as well, and need extra help, which is very costly. Arcenciel was able to provide us with psychotherapy and psychomotor therapy sessions as well as much needed financial support.”

​Nour, 14 

“Thanks to arcenciel’s help, me and my two siblings have been able to attend school. My older brother has already finished high school and is now at university. We have all received excellent grades this year, and it makes me so happy. I look forward to what lies ahead, and attending university myself.”

Yasmina

Hi, we are three kids: Joy, Joanne and Joseph Zeinoun. Joy, the eldest, is 16 years old, Joanne, the middle child, is 12 and Joseph, the youngest, is 9 years old. We live with our mum who is divorced and who spends most of her time at work, she works almost all day and we all live in a small house. We are scout members with S.O.B. and all four of us also enjoy sports. We often practice sports at Cirquenciel, our favorite center,
​with the team and the coaches that we consider like our second family.

At the moment, Lebanon is in a difficult situation. We are living through a very serious economic crisis, in addition to corona and several additional political issues. We pray for God to help Lebanon and its people and to solve all those problems so that we could live a peaceful life.

​“I was born with spina bifida, a congenital malformation. Spina bifida has no cure, and affects several parts of my life, most notably my mobility -
I cannot walk or move around unaided and am bound to a wheelchair. I live in the Bekaa valley, and my parents are struggling financially. The recent economic downturn has made matters worse. Thankfully with the help of arcenciel, we were able to pay my and my brother’s school fees. They even paid for some necessary medical support. This year I am proudly finishing at the top of my class.”

Ali, 16

“After our mum’s cancer diagnosis, as well as our dad’s redundancy, our parents were left unable to pay for me and my sister’s school fees. It was particularly hard on our parents, because we had never struggled financially in the past. Arcenciel is thankfully helping us with tuition, and we are able to go to school”.

Farid

My name is Cynthia and I am 10. Some time ago, my mum asked me to go to arcenciel center. I thought it was a beautiful place with a playground, but when I got there, I was surprised and afraid because I saw people who didn’t look like me: they couldn’t walk properly or
had no hand, but were always happy and smiling.

I understood that it wasn't an issue for them. And I have learnt to become strong like them. I was undergoing a treatment at the physiotherapy and speech therapy center. I liked going there as everyone loved me, they welcomed us with a big smile
​on their face and helped us a lot.

After a while, I understood why the center was called arcenciel: because it represents life, joy, love and gifting, and I really like them.