Background
El Buss camp is located 1.5 km to the South of Tyre city. The French government originally built the camp in 1939 for Armenian refugees. Palestinians from the Acre area in the Galilee came to El Buss in the 1950s and the Armenians were moved to the Anjar area.
• The population of the camp is approximately 11,254 registered refugees (UNRWA 2014).
• People in the camp earn their income from various types of work: agriculture and construction.
• El Buss camp like other camps has guarded entrances, and the Lebanese government controls the entry of any construction materials to the camp since 1997.
• UNRWA runs four schools for elementary, intermediate and secondary education
• UNRWA provides health services through one health center.
• 12 NGOs are working within the camp implementing various programs.
FGC El Buss:
The Family Guidance Center in El Buss camp was established in November 2007.
El Buss center is providing comprehensive mental health rehabilitation services to children and youth below 18 years and the caregivers who are living in the Palestinian camps and gatherings in Tyre area. It is a serious and growing gap in the Mental Health services in Lebanon and especially inside the Palestinian community facing all kinds of threats.
The provided services includes consulting, treatment and follow up in Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Psycho-motor Therapy, Speech and Language therapy, Occupational therapy, Music Therapy, evaluation tests and social intervention.
These services are provided by multi-disciplinary team consists of a Psychiatrist, 2 psychologists, 2 Speech Therapists, 2 Psychomotor Therapists, 1 occupational Therapist, 4 community mental health workers and a community workers coordinator
FGC El Buss has adopted the community based approach in working with children and their families, as well as the organizations, schools, kindergartens and the community so that they overcome their psychological problems within their environment. This approach contributes to enhancing the wellbeing of the children and that of their parents, and facilitating the communication between the parents, their children and the community.
The provision of free of charge services for children, youth and their families remained a main policy at The National Institution of Social Care and Vocational Training (NISCVT) and its Family Guidance Centers (FGCs). This intervention has been supported by Handicap international (HI) since January 2010 and by AFD fund since January 2014.
FGC El Buss runs the following projects and programs:
• Family Happiness Project
• Mental Health Care Program
• Psychosocial Support Program
• Empowerment of Marginalized Communities
The period of the project is 4 years, from 2012 till 2016.
5 social workers from BTS have trained in 5 topics which are mental health, reproductive health, disability, environment, education, and women empowerment.
-Since the end of the year 2013, 5 social workers started to deliver awareness sessions in mental and reproductive health among the community in order to enhance their knowledge and information. These will continue till the end of the year 2016.