AVSI-USA

Lebanon is facing a rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis.

As bombardments intensify across the south, the Bekaa Valley, and the southern suburbs of Beirut, the number of displaced people continues to rise. Around 400 people have been killed, more than 1,000 injured, and over 517,000 people forced to flee their homes — with the real number likely already exceeding one million.

Families are moving from one apartment to another in search of safety, while already struggling with years of economic instability and soaring inflation. In a country where the average monthly salary is about $300, apartment rents have reached up to $4,000.

We also mourn Father Pierre el-Rahi, a Maronite Catholic priest and long-time friend of AVSI, who was tragically killed by artillery fire while trying to evacuate families from a home that was previously struck.

Despite the danger, our colleagues and volunteers continue to respond with courage and dedication — distributing essential items, providing drinking water, and supporting shelters across affected communities.

We can’t stop now. Urgent support is needed to help families find safety.

Donate now on avsi-usa.org.

We’re grateful to welcome a dear friend of AVSI, Rose Busingye, to the New York Encounter.

A Ugandan nurse and founder of Meeting Point International Rose has spent decades accompanying women affected by poverty, violence, and HIV/AIDS, witnessing to the dignity of every life.

Stop by our booth during the encounter to find her book: Your Names Are Written in Heaven, Davide Perillo. 💚

🎙️ Join her talk, Where Dignity Is a Given, Not a Goal, moderated by Mark Danner.

🗓 TODAY: Saturday, February 14, 2026 | 10:45 AM ET
📍 Altman Auditorium

We’re excited to be back at the New York Encounter this weekend! ✨

Come say hello at the AVSI booth—and don’t miss a special conversation with our Executive Director, Jackie Aldrette, moderating Seeking a Home, a timely discussion on immigration, dignity, and belonging.

📍 Altman Auditorium
🗓 Sunday, February 15 | 12:45 PM ET

Join us for a weekend of dialogue, encounter, and hope.

On the occasion of the , AVSI shares key insights from its Position Paper on , drawn from field experience in fragile and crisis-affected contexts.

Drawing from concrete examples of educational interventions, this carousel highlights five ways quality learning in schools can be enhanced:

🟢 Integrating and socio-emotional learning
🔵 Strengthening foundational learning in &
🟢 Supporting learning continuity beyond the classroom
🔵 Using accelerated learning to prevent school exclusion
🟢 Investing in Education

These elements reflect how school education can respond to real conditions in the field and support quality learning and inclusion, in contexts where access to education is often limited or disrupted, or where access alone is not sufficient.

At AVSI, we believe in accompanying people from crisis to autonomy.

Welcomed Through Work reflects this vision through a structured path to integration:
✅ Welcoming: safe shelter & orientation
✅ Promoting: Portuguese & vocational training
✅ Protecting: legal & social support
✅ Integrating: relocation linked to employment, housing, schools, and healthcare

📊 In Brasília (CBS shelter-to-shelter relocation), the evaluation found that formal employment rose from 5% → 44%

These findings highlight how consistent accompaniment, rooted in dignity, can foster durable socioeconomic inclusion—transforming displacement into opportunity.

Read more: https://avsi-usa.org/blog/welcomed-through-work-a-scalable-model-for-socioeconomic-inclusion-final-evaluation-report-summary-2021-2023/

AVSI Brasil AVSI

When health systems falter, community becomes essential.

After the closure of USAID programs, access to health care in Uganda became even more fragile. While HIV medications have been restored, many women were left managing worsened symptoms and lost support.

Meeting Point International (MPI) continues to walk alongside women living with HIV/AIDS — offering psychosocial care, access to treatment, and companionship when it matters most.

Through a newly established health fund, MPI ensures women can access life-saving medicines and care when they need them most.

Donate to our Annual Campaign Today:
💛 $100–$500 covers one month of medical expenses for women managing the side effects of antiretroviral treatment.
🎯 Campaign goal: $10,000
➡️ https://ow.ly/hia450XR9Zj

Founded in 1992 by Rose Busingye, MPI serves women and children in the slums of Kampala — Naguru, Kireka, Ntinda, and Nsambya — turning hardship into hope through relationship and care of the person.

"You have an infinite value."

A friend turned her birthday into an investment in peace—by inviting donations to COWA in Uganda.

COWA reminds us that peace isn’t just the absence of conflict; it’s the presence of .

When young people gain skills, confidence, and a clear path to work, they discover their potential—and their role in building stable .

Your support can make that possible:

🎁 $300 — Half tuition for vocational training
🎁 $600 — Full tuition for vocational training
🎁 $1,000 — Tuition + full access to COWA’s Job Center + business start-up support

Join us in reaching $10,000 to support young people who are lifting themselves—and their families—out of poverty while building a more stable future.

visit: https://donorbox.org/opportunity-for-cowa

This year, we want to share with you a special wish, inspired by the words spoken by Pope Leo XIV during his recent trip to Lebanon: may we all "speak just one language, namely the language of hope that, by always starting afresh, draws everyone together."

To you and your loved ones, we send our warmest wishes, together with our heartfelt gratitude for your constant support.

from AVSI-USA 🎄