In October 2017, at the conclusion of a three year course  begun by a volunteer and continued by the trainers from the Italian Shiatsu Academy, the first trainees from Burj al Shemali are qualified as shiatsu practitioners. 

The field of health and well being is  thankfully

not one of the many professions forbidden to the resident foreigners in Lebanon, which includes the Palestinians, who despite living there for 70 years are still regarded as such under Lebanese law. 

While the academy proposes further stages of specialisation, our objective will now be to guide these ‘pioneers’ towards creating an activity, outside of the camp as well, that will bring them both personal satisfaction and some small  economic benefit.