Super Swiss Visit

The delegation and program of the Schweizer Verein (Swiss Schneller Society) during the visit to JLSS from Sunday 26 April until Saturday 2nd of May 2009 were not ordinary. The delegation included Mr. Christoph Schmitter (President of the Schweizer Verein), his wife Mrs. Marianne Schmitter, Dr. Mechtild Zäch (dentist), her husband Mr. Peter Graf, Mr. Jörg Watter (engineer from Oikos & Partner GmbH), and Dr. Scilla Elworthy (Peace Direct) who arrived from the United Kingdom at the invitation of the Schweizer Verein.
The visit had three main objectives: to assess the dental health of JLSS students, to assess the situation and energy efficiency of JLSS buildings and probe possible cooperation between Swiss and Lebanese engineers in JLSS projects, and to provide conflict resolution training through workshops to JLSS teachers and educators (house parents of boarding department).
Each member of the delegation embarked on her/his task from the day of arrival. Dr. Mechtild Zäch assisted by her husband conducted dental checkups on two hundred children from different age groups. Mr. Jörg Watter accompanied by Mr. Monah Zorob of our Maintenance Department conducted a quick assessment of our buildings and the energy efficiency of all heating systems installed. He also had a long meeting with Mr. Bichara Kallab who is the engineer responsible for our latest projects to discuss possible future cooperation. Dr. Scilla Elworthy conducted workshops and meetings with teachers, educators, and students providing them with skills for conflict resolution through peaceful means. She also had meetings with our religious education teachers to help them integrate conflict resolution in the school curriculum.
Wednesday 29 April was a very special day as His Excellency the Swiss Ambassador, Mr. François Barras, kindly accepted the invitation to visit our school, see the work that is done in it first hand, and meet with the Swiss delegation. The ambassador visited all our departments and met our teachers, trainers, and members of staff. He walked around our school campus and visited our biblical botanic garden. His kind remarks to our teachers and trainers were very encouraging  bringing them great joy and giving them great pride in their work. He later had lunch with the director of the school, the head of the boarding department, Mr. Martin Bernhard who is our Swiss co-worker, and all the members of the Schweizer Verein delegation.
We express our sincere gratitude to His Excellency the Swiss Ambassador, Mr. François Barras, for his very kind and encouraging visit.
We also sincerely thank the Schweizer Verien, its president, Mr. Christoph Schmitter, and all the members of the delegation for their wonderful visit, the excellent work they did, and the very highly appreciated support they provide to our school.