Following the catastrophic blast on Aug. 4 that left many injured and homeless, Rachel Jamison, Instructor of Legal Studies at NYU Abu Dhabi, moved to Beirut to found Kilna, a non-profit organization that collects and distributes aid to blast victims.

The word Kilna means all of us in Lebanese Arabic. The organization functions on a special donation model; Jamison developed this operational style after working in countries such as Sierra Leone, which necessitated NGOs to work outside of a system crippled by corruption.

“Instead of just saying, ‘Give us money and then we’re going to determine where it’s best spent and what to do with it and perhaps we’ll update you at a later time,’ we’re going to show you up front exactly where it’s going to go,” explained Jamison. “We’re saying, ‘Give us money to assist this person directly.’”

At Kilna, case workers are part of the local communities that they are volunteering in. They find cases, visit clients and assess the situation and then come up with a cost estimate which donors can contribute to.

“Lebanon has a special place in my heart and I have a lot of friends who are Lebanese,” shared Jamison who had visited Beirut seven times to assist in pro bono projects with local lawyers. “Over the past few years, I watched their lives really crumble. People who used to own businesses, people who used to be professionals, people who used to go on trips with me or go out to dinner with me suddenly were people calling me, asking me if I could please send them USD 50 because they didn’t have enough money.”

Jamison recently contacted Matea Kocevska, a recent graduate from the Class of 2020, to be a part of Kilna due to her academic background in economics and business as well as her passion for NGO work and youth education. She is now a remote volunteer whose efforts concentrate on content production and volunteer recruitment.

“It is important for people like me who are foreigners … to commit to [volunteering with Kilna] because … a lot of the work can be outsourced and done remotely,” Kocevska shared. “It leaves more space and energy for people on the ground … to reach more cases and make the whole process more qualitatively investigative and to bring out [the stories] of the victims.”

Tatiana Houhou, Class of 2022, was at home in Beirut when the explosion happened. Horrified by the devastation that the blast wrought, she and a couple friends took to the streets and helped those in need by donating blood and offering food.

Overwhelmed by the disorganization of street relief efforts, Houhou longed to be a part of a structured organization that could effectively deliver aid to victims. The opportunity came when she noticed Kocevska’s post on the NYUAD Opportunities Facebook group about Kilna.

“Being with Kilna was really inspiring because … we approach each individual and each case in a more human way,” noted Houhou, whose familiarity with the country’s complex system of giving aid enabled her to help the non-profit by recruiting volunteers and conducting on the ground support. “It was basically a more individualized approach which in itself provides psychological support to the people affected by the explosion and by the recent events in Lebanon.”

Apart from providing emergency assistance, Kilna hopes to equip clients with the tools to rebuild their lives. There are programs concentrated in alleviating those in serious poverty, as well as efforts directly aimed at educating children so that they don’t become a lost generation.

“This project would’ve been very difficult to do without the assistance of NYUAD students,” Jamison shared. “I was very … touched that the NYUAD community really does care about things that have happened here in Lebanon. They should be commended for coming together.”