The woman behind himaya, Mrs. Viviane Debbas

 

“Come my darling, come give me a kiss,” said the grandmother to her little boy.

The child did not move. He kept silently doing what he was doing.

“Come, darling, if you give me a kiss I’ll give you candy.”                                                                                                                        

The kid gets up quickly and runs towards his grandmother, gives her a kiss

and collects his candy.

himaya is the story of a grandmother who loved her grandson very much.

A grandmother who needed to protect a child she cared for, and along with him,

every innocent child in this world.

 

himaya is my story. It is the story of every grandmother. Every mother.

Every parent. Every human being who ever cared about another human being.

It is a story about care and protection of the innocent souls and the innocent minds

of this planet that is making living harder every day. This little story is not uncommon or unheard of. How many times in your childhood have you been told to “not speak to strangers”?

How many times have you been driven to repeat it to your children, to your

children’s children?

For as long as you can remember.

This is how himaya came to exist. This feeling you and I have.

This need to protect our loved ones from the bad in the world is what made me do

what I do today. And every day.

 

 

The day I saw my grandson’s reaction when I tried to lure him into giving his grandma a kiss was the day I saw it cleary.

How easy it is to convince a child to do something they don’t want to do. How naïve and innocent a child really is and how he could not possibly understand that an adult is playing him.

 

himaya is the story of a group of people, people devoted and inspired by our mission. A committee was established along with a close partnership with arcenciel, whose resources and great support enabled us to grow fast and effectively.

 

himaya protects young victims of sexual violence, physical violence, psychological violence and neglect.himaya aims to break the silence that

contributes to hiding violence against children in our society.

 

We offer as many children as possible the necessary life skills to protect themselves.

 

himaya’s story began in September 2008 with a unique social worker.

Today himaya counts more than 100 professionals from different backgrounds and specialties, offering a global follow-up and working through two programs (Resilience and Prevention) covering all Lebanese territories.

We also had the chance to open a resilience center that offers shelter and psycho-social support to any child whose environment puts their life in danger.

 

himaya is the living proof that working together, believing together, and never giving up will leave the world a slightly better place than we found it.

 

 

Cordially Yours,

 

Viviane Debbas