At this point a major problem arose. What about the noisy children who came with their mothers? The obvious solution was to set up a school for them. Tents were used as classrooms, a teacher was employed, and soon the number of children reached 300. At this point it became necessary to find a second teacher! A fact on which modern teachers might like to reflect !
Arguably the most important factor humanly speaking in those early days was the arrival of Mr Salim Kassab who had miraculously escaped the massacres in Damascus. He became the interpreter and assistant of Mrs Bowen Thompson for 46 years. As the schools were developing it was mainly due to Mr Kassab that high standards of education were set. In addition to his work in education he regularly accompanied Mrs Thompson on her visits to the poor and destitute, quite late in the evening through narrow lanes or across muddy fields.
In 1862 Mrs Bowen Thompson’s sister arrived from England with her husband, Mr Mentor Mott, and another sister Miss Lloyd. They became involved in the schools and in 1862 a Teacher Training Department was set up to train women teachers. In the first 46 years of its existence, it trained at least 400 teachers and of course up till fairly recent times our large Girls School in Beirut was often known as The Training College. Teachers trained there are still found in many schools in Lebanon, and the College continued its fine work until about 30 years ago.
In the early days a Boys School was started and Infant Schools were introduced. By 1866, 7 schools were functioning in Beirut.
By 1863 many of the original widows were obliged to return to the mountains or they would lose all their properties. As they returned, they asked to have schools established in their own areas. Therefore, between 1863 and 1868 schools were established in Hasbaya, Chwyier, Zahleh, Moktara and Ainzhalta and Damascus.
An amusing story is told of those early days. As they were on their way to a certain village they were asked why they were going there. Their reply was, ‘We are going to open two schools.’ The questioner expressed surprise that they spoke of two schools and the answer was that the opposition would open another school in the same place. Of course this illustrates the fact that there was often severe opposition to the work.
In 1868 official permission was granted for the establishment of schools (in the form of an Imperial Firman issued by the Sultan of Turkey). This was most powerful in gaining a legal foundation for the development of the schools.
At about this time Mr Mott became concerned about the state of blind people in Beirut and he opened a centre for them. Later, schools for the Blind were opened in Tyre and Damascus.
At Christmas time 1868 Mrs Bowen Thompson caught a severe cold while riding through the night from Zahleh to Damascus. Her health was not strong and she never fully recovered from the effects of this cold. In the late summer of 1869 she was persuaded to return to England and died at midnight on Sunday, 14th November 1869.
The Management of her work passed to her sister, Mrs Mentor Mott, assisted of course by Mr Mentor Mott and Miss Lloyd. The expansion of the work appears to have continued unabated. An important milestone was the arrival at the Training Department of a very capable lady called Miss Caroline Thompson in 1882. She upgraded the educational side of the department and especially the training of teachers and their subsequent supervision during their first years of teaching.
During these years there seems to have been close co-operation between our schools and those of the American Mission. Depending on available finances, sometimes the direction of schools would pass from one to the other then back again. In 1897 it was reported that we were responsible for 52 schools containing a total of 3789 pupils.
The work for the Blind was greatly enhanced by the appointment in 1910 of Mr Khalil Yazaje who continued at his post until 1934 when he was 80 years of age.
It seems that the threat of war, the opening of schools by other groups and general uncertainty caused the schools some problems but at the outbreak of war in 1914 there were 34 schools with a total of 3109 pupils.
The war of 1914-1918 changed everything dramatically. Within a few months starvation was a reality and typhoid fever was rampant. It is said that 80,000 people died within a few months. As far as the schools were concerned, after the war, of the 10 out schools in Beirut only 2 were functioning. The main school was being used by other groups during the day, but as soon as possible the daughter of Mr Salim Kassab, herself one of our former teachers, moved her own small school into the premises. When the direction of the schools could be resumed by our own people, Miss Kassab moved her school to another building under the name of the school which became famous as the Ahlieh School.
In 1920 the Training College was officially reopened. Some of the village schools never opened again, and educational needs were taken care of by the government and other private groups. Places in which schools were reopened included Ainzhalta (1921), Tyre (1923), Hasbaya (1924), Baalbek (1928). Schools for Blind men and girls began again in 1922.
Soon after the 1914-1918 war Miss Fitzpatrick became the Principal of the Training College, the name often used to describe the complete Beirut school, including Kindergarten, Primary, Secondary and the Training Department. She continued her skilful and vigorous work up till 1937.
From 1860 until 1903 we had a Boys School in Beirut. This was sadly closed in the latter year because of lack of finance. For a number of years there had been pressure to re-open the school for Boys and in 1945 premises became available and the school was opened under the supervision of Miss Lottie Farquharson with a roll of 64 boys. The school was greatly strengthened when in 1948 Mr Kalim Kurban became Principal, a position he held until 1961 when another very able gentleman, Mr Adly Fam became Principal and the school moved out to a spacious building in Hadeth. The school expanded further. In 1969 Mr Fam moved to concentrate on his radio ministry with Trans World Radio and I was asked to take over as Principal.
During the years of the European war of 1939-45 the schools continued strongly. In the early 1950s Miss Hazel St John became the distinguished and able Principal of the Beirut Girls School which went stronger and stronger. Its name became the Lebanon Evangelical School for Girls, although for long it was often referred to as the Training College.
In the early 1970s Miss St John moved to help found Eastwood College in Kfarshima and Miss Katie Tleel became the Principal of the school, leading it very ably and with great courage through the most stressful years of the troubles. Miss Tleel had previously headed up the Training Department.
Perhaps the most important development of this period was one which did not visibly affect the Girls and Boys Schools, but which was fundamental to our future progress. In 1967 the assets of the school together with all legal and financial liabilities were transferred from the Mission (at that time called the Lebanon Evangelical Mission) to the newly formed Lebanese Evangelical Society. The driving force behind this change was the duo Mr David Tleel and Mr Leslie de Smidt. Mr de Smidt was the Field Leader of the Mission and Mr David Tleel had been the Treasurer since he joined in 1948. A very able National Council was formed with Mr Tleel as the President and Director and Mr de Smidt as a lifetime member. Sadly Mr de Smidt’s contributions were curtailed by his untimely death due to an accident at the beginning of the 1975-1990 troubles. Mr Tleel continued his distinguished work with the Society and Schools until the early 1990s. His contribution cannot be over emphasised as he wisely guided us through perhaps the most difficult phase of our history. His wise counsel, financial acumen and attention to detail are legendary. We at Loueizeh will always be thankful for his care during the troubles. At one stage we had quite a large number of students marooned for weeks in the school. In spite of the near impossibility of moving about, Mr Tleel would daily make the journey from Hadeth with provisions and to help us in our morning prayers. That single service I, for one, will never forget.
During the 1970s there was a move by many of the larger Beirut Schools to relocate in more spacious areas outside Beirut. This was partly prompted by the increasingly stringent regulations of the Ministry of Education concerning the provision of adequate playground space for pupils. Our premises in Zah-el-Blat, which included the original building bought by Mrs Bowen Thompson in the 1860s, could no longer meet the requirements, so land was purchased in Loueizeh with the intention of moving the LESG there as soon as possible. The troubles of 1975 and the tragic years which followed meant that this move was delayed until it was considered advisable to start the present building at Loueizeh in the early 1980s and move there as soon as possible. The Hariri Foundation was able to buy our premises in Beirut with the promise that they would continue a school there for a number of years, so that the pupils who were not able to travel to Loueizeh would be looked after.
Meanwhile the Boys School had suffered a very chequered career. Right at the beginning of the trouble in 1975 our Hadath property was more or less demolished in the fighting, this left us without a building. The LESG kindly opened up its already crowded premises to the boys who were able to get to that area. After a year or two the LESB was reopened in the premises of the Church of God in the Mar Mitr area of Ashrafieh as a co-educational school, so we naturally became The Lebanon Evangelical School for Boys and Girls. A section of the Boys School remained in the LESG under the capable direction of Mr Raja Abu Rahmeh. To our great loss Mr and Mrs Abu Rahmeh emigrated to the USA in the 1980s. For a year or two my wife and I tried to fill his place in the compound of the LESG until the new school was built in Loueizeh. Meanwhile, Mr Hanna Helou led the school in Ashrafieh until it too was transferred to Loueizeh.
So it came about that our present building became the focus of our educational work in Beirut. I was asked to be Principal and Miss Katie Tleel, whom we thought was to remain at the helm in Beirut, became Director of Studies until she was persuaded to manage the School in Tyre. Sadly, Miss Tleel died suddenly and prematurely in hospital having been admitted for a seemingly minor ailment.
Of course at first our numbers in Loueizeh were modest, but increased gradually in spite of the troubled situation. In the early 1990s, because of the demographic shift we were suddenly flooded with applications and our numbers increased rapidly – in retrospect perhaps too rapidly – and several adjustments had to be made. In particular it became necessary to build a separate building for the Elementary Department which was completed in the mid 1990s and Mrs Joan White became the first Head of Department.
When it was time, according to their Mission regulations, for Colin and Joan White to retire in August 2000, the present Principal, Dr Stephen White was appointed and Mrs Sharon White became Head of Department. With far more vigour and energy available they were able to increase the rate of progress of the school and under God’s gracious guidance bring it to its present excellence.
Before we reflect the lessons of these past 150 years I must acknowledge the source of most of the material up to 1960. It has been an excellent history written by a lady who was a wonderful example and inspiration to many. She was the principal of St Paul’s School in Damascus and of the Training College, she was the Field Secretary and co-Field Leader of the Mission during those important years leading up to the formation of the Lebanese Evangelical Society in 1967. I am referring, of course, to Miss Frances Scott and her book Dare and Persevere. Those of you who have read the book will realise how much I have relied on it.
And what can we learn from all this? As I have studied and reflected on the story of the past, I have been deeply humbled by the immense piety, spirituality and loving care which shone through the lives of those great servants of God. With no desire for material reward and often through great poverty and hardship, they loved and cared for those around them, knowing that in doing so they were following their Lord and Master and bringing honour to Him. As we look back we should be greatly challenged and, I pray, energised to follow their example of unselfish service to others, not for what we can get out of it, nor for want of power, influence, or prestige but because we love and serve the same Lord as they loved and served.
The words of our Foundress Mrs Bowen Thompson which I quoted before are as relevant now as they were 150 years ago.
‘As a widow, I felt specially called to try and alleviate their distress and make known to them the only balm for a broken heart – the love of Jesus.’ In a world so distressed and divided as ours God helps us to continue to administer the balm for broken hearts – the love of Jesus.
The school now has approximately 1,200 students registered, ranging in age from 3 to 18 years.
We are proud to be a member institution of the Lebanese Evangelical Society and as such we aim to maintain a school which will have a special emphasis on moral and spiritual values, and which will be a centre of working Christian Fellowship and witness.
The development of the whole of the child’s personality is our aim. We therefore strive to provide opportunities for learning through shared experiences, to enable the students to learn, develop and recognise the resources within themselves to know how to deal with the pressures of today’s society and make a constructive contribution to it.
LESB&G has always tried to provide a secure environment for students with a wide range of academic abilities. Within this general framework we endeavour to encourage those who find lessons difficult and, at the same time, to challenge those who find academic work easy. As far as possible we resist the temptation to ‘drop’ students for academic or disciplinary reasons, unless it becomes clear that a change of school might benefit them.
One of the core philosophies that we have at this school is that every child is important and needs to be provided with the resources to reach their full potential. To this end we have recently created a stream of classes that are specially adapted to helping children with special needs and who would benefit from a small group teaching methodology. The new classes will have a maximum of 15 students with three specially trained teachers. As far as we know, we are the only mainstream school in Lebanon doing this at the moment.
We have also partnered with an NGO (Autism Association for Social Integration) that was set up by four parents of children that have autism. We are pioneering the inclusion of these children into mainstream classes while providing them with their own classroom areas where they can have the time and space that they need.
During the shift in premises from central Beirut to the suburbs of Loueizeh, Mr. David Tleel, who was the Director of the Lebanese Evangelical Society, had the foresight to purchase many plots of land around our building. Within the next 2 years we are hoping to build on three of these to expand the classrooms that we have and also to provide the resources and amenities that a school of this age and with this history should have. The new building will include a 650 seat theatre, more than 50 multi-purpose rooms (most of which will be used as classrooms), an indoor basketball court, a gym and a 25m indoor swimming pool.
I hope that this new development will help maintain our position as one of the most progressive and exciting schools in Lebanon.
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