🆘20 Students in Lebanon Need Your Support for 2025

It’s late, and I hear the sounds—loud and steady, deep rumblings like thunder in the distance....

But I know now it’s not a storm. 🌩️

Some nights, the lights go out all at once, and it’s pitch dark, with only the sounds of airstrikes that seem to get closer and closer.

When my dad told us we had to leave the apartment last month, he said to grab just what we needed. ￬

And even though I didn’t know how long we’d be gone or if we'd ever return home, I knew the one thing I couldn’t leave behind....

My laptop.

I took it first before other essentials because it’s the one thing that lets me feel normal, lets me connect to CodeBrave and see my teacher’s face, my friends’ faces. My laptop is like an “Ameneh” (أمنة)—my guardian that carries me through the scary moments.

We moved quickly, my father guiding us out of our home. We finally reached an available shelter later that night, and my dad did something I’ll never forget.

He helped set me up with my laptop in the one small room we were given to share as a family of 20, and told everyone to either be silent or go outside so I could totally focus on my CodeBrave class.

My dad understands what it means for me to log into my CodeBrave class, even if it’s just for an hour. Each time, the noise and fear fade away, and I feel the tension in my shoulders start to relax.

I’m still learning. Still hoping. Even when everything around me is uncertain and messy, I get this one hour where I start to believe that things can get better.

“Other kids in the shelter spend all this time and energy trying to fix the past. Me, I don’t want to fix anything. You can’t fix it. It’s broken. But I can make my future.”

🇱🇧 SITUATION: Hundreds of thousands of children have been forced from their homes due to the escalating conflict in Lebanon, and find themselves sitting in shelters with no school and nothing to do. Every month of missed education impacts their futures and makes it harder for them to get back on track.

"The high-level view is that 1.2 million people have been displaced, people are living on the streets or in whatever buildings they can find. Over 2,000 people have been killed and thousands more injured. 60% of public schools have become shelters to house the displaced and over 350,000 children are left without education. The bombs hitting the ground are audible for miles around and sometimes make the ground shake, so even when you're not in immediate danger, it's very disturbing.” —Clementine Brown, Co-Founder & Co-Director, CodeBrave Lebanon

💻SOLUTION: CodeBrave is a tech-education charity on the ground in Lebanon that is responding by running classes at shelters for displaced children, helping them build basic literacy, numeracy, and science skills through game-based coding and robotics classes. Game-based education has been shown to be one of the most effective ways to keep children learning in toxic stress environments while providing hope, stability, and a much-needed escape from the chaos around them.

One of the best investments of time and talent has been Code Brave's Web Development Programme. Students have said they want to continue learning online despite many of them being displaced. Their coding lessons are providing a respite from the situation and allowing them to invest in their future.

🤲SUPPORT: Today you have an opportunity to make a tangible difference in the lives of youth in Lebanon by supporting this emergency fundraiser.

Your most generous donation today through this platform is tax-deductible and will go directly towards CodeBrave being able to offer the Web Development Programme to 20 committed students, even while they are living in shelters.

100% of your donation goes directly to CodeBrave immediately, ensuring their cash flow needs are met to keep the program running in the coming months.

CodeBrave-trained teachers, alongside brave young minds, adapt to shattered schedules and limited resources, showing up to learn every day. Will you help them, please?

🙌SUCCESS: The value of your donation today is a priceless gift. You are funding confidence in these youth and long-term impact for their success today and in the future.

See 5 examples of student projects here: WATCH

One of the best continuing success stories of a CodeBrave student who completed the Web Development Programme is the story of Rawan Shehayib who has just completed her first semester studying Computer Engineering on full merit scholarship at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend.

Please keep hope alive by keeping learning possible for these Lebanese kids who find themselves in unimaginably hard circumstances. Education cannot wait—even in times of war...especially in times like these!

🤔❓QUESTIONS YOU MAY BE ASKING:

What exactly am I funding?

CodeBrave’s Web Development Programme recruits up to 20 exceptional and motivated young students aged 14-18 per cohort, and runs once per year fully online. Here is what it takes to fully fund the programme.

During the programme, students learn fundamental coding concepts in Python which they immediately put into practice by creating their own projects. They receive 96 tutoring hours, with an expectation of 192 hours of independent work. As part of their training, students complete work experience modules building websites for real clients. They also receive English tutoring from EduPact, mentorship from LIFE Lebanon and McKinsey.

CodeBrave tutors are experts in Computer Science or Engineering and trained by CodeBrave on teaching methodology and educational psychology.

Learning Outcomes include:

1. Developing foundational coding skills
2. Game development (Python)
3. Web development (HTML, CSS, JavaScript)
4. Leveraging generative AI
5. Vocational English language skills
6. Employment skills
7. Developing a portfolio of work

At the end of the programme, success is measured by the achievement of a range of identified positive outcomes that are relevant for their age. Since most students are under 18, securing employment is not necessarily the goal.

Completion Outcomes include:

• Building a website for a real client
• Winning a university scholarship
• Securing an industry internship
• Accepted to advanced bootcamp (e.g. SE Factory, Codi)
• Getting a tech-related job
• Setting up small enterprise using their tech skill

What is it really like for these kids in Lebanon?

• Younes now lives in one room with his 20 family members after being displaced. His whole family leaves their room when he has his CodeBrave classes so he can focus.
• Hind is currently living in a camp after being displaced, joins her class from the pavement outside the camp using the computer CodeBrave provided her with.
• Fatima is just one of many students asking their CodeBrave teachers for extra material to learn as they’re currently out of school and wanting to make the most of their free time.

Who is CodeBrave?

CodeBrave (codebrave.org) is a charity working to empower Lebanon’s youth with the tech skills they need to secure safe and decent work and ultimately lift themselves out of poverty. They do this through coding, robotics and AI education that builds key cognitive skills for the 21st century and instills a love of learning. CodeBrave teachers are trained in educational psychology. Since 2018, CodeBrave has been providing innovative coding and robotics programs at schools and shelters for vulnerable youth across Lebanon. They combine a child psychology approach with a cutting edge tech education curriculum to ensure that students reach their full potential. CodeBrave Lebanon has upskilled over 2,435 young people, 53% of whom are girls, who would otherwise have had no access to tech education. CodeBrave is a registered NGO in Lebanon (#20609, official name Bukra La’ilkom). CodeBrave Foundation is a registered charity in the UK (#1188692).

🤝Every contribution and share will make a difference for these students in Lebanon if we come together, especially during this season of giving.