What can holistic restoration look like when we work together? At the end of 2010, the Arab world was flipped upside down. As revolutions swept across North Africa and the Middle East, Syria was plunged into a tragic, complex war that continues today. Over 5 million people have fled to countries around the world and over 6 million have been displaced within their own country.

A decade later, neighboring Lebanon plunged into a deep economic collapse that was accentuated by the blast on August 4th that killed around 200 people. The local currency has lost 90% of its value. More than half of the population is living below the poverty line. Families are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, men and women can’t find work and hundreds of thousands of children are unable to attend school.

Cedars Network began as a small group of people distressed by these realities. We saw the destruction caused by the war and heard first-hand stories of men, women and children who lost their homes, their family members and the lives they once knew. We saw the devastation caused by the blast and economic collapse. In the midst of all of the chaos, we also saw extraordinary potential in these people.

We are building a network of interdependent teams to collaborate with these marginalized communities in their pursuit of restored communities through holistic development projects.

We aspire to consider the whole person and whole community as we collaborate on projects.

How will a learning center impact not just the students, but the whole community? How can we create a health project that both serves the health needs of the community and also empowers the marginalized at the same time? How can we work out a project that will impact the livelihood of families for generations?

This is bigger than what we can do alone. We collaborate with people around the world in pursuit of holistic restoration of marginalized communities in the Middle East.