Hope Academy is a school for street children in the outskirts of Beirut, and began as an idea of Brady and Amber Black, the school’s founders, when they were living in Oman and realized their desire to do more to give back to the world. As Americans and outsiders to Lebanese culture and society, the idea of opening a school in a country they had only visited was daunting — three aspects of their approach have allowed them to navigate this undertaking with success:

1. Inside knowledge, outside resources:

They recognized the need for help and guidance by locals: people who spoke the language and knew the culture. Hope Academy has built multiple partnerships and thus receives support and guidance from other organizations and members of the community, and being outsiders had benefits as well. They’re able to seek help and contributions beyond the local community, especially from a country with resources and a culture of philanthropy like the United States.

2. Acceptance of failure and resilience in the face of it:

When Brady and Steven, the Director of the school, talk about Hope Academy, they are refreshingly willing to acknowledge failure and uncertainty. Despite these moments, they continue to push forward, seeking solutions, re-framing problems and seeking new perspectives and insights.

The focus of the team of Hope Academy is not on running a school without fault or hiccup but on continuing to show up and try and accepting unsuccessful attempts as learning opportunities.

3. Realistic expectations:

The staff of Hope Academy had to take a step back and design a learning environment that better met the needs of their students many of whom are refugees, have lived on the streets, have experienced abuse, or have little to no formal education.

Read the full article about Hope Academy by Becki Brown at Medium.