Summer Projects 2017

With earmarked donations from our partners, we were able to execute very important projects in the summer of 2017.

We implemented stage four of the energy project. This stage consisted of upgrading the central heating systems of the girls' boarding homes, Elizabeth von der Decken Hall (vocational training center for girls), and Maria Schneller Hall (main kitchen building). We installed hot-water storage systems that utilize energy from the solar panels to provide hot-water and reduce the cost of central heating. This system was implemented in accordance with the plans that Rolf Bartel prepared.

Mr. Bartel is the heating expert that was kindly sent by our German partners EVS/EMS for the last four year to upgrade the central heating systems. This project has been helping JLSS save enormous amount on diesel bills. It also provided efficient heating to various buildings. The girls boarding homes now have efficient central heating systems. And finally Maria Schneller Hall (dining hall, kitchen and laundry) have heating in winter like all other places in JLSS.
Maria Schneller Hall did not have central heating for the last ten years, since the old boiler failed beyond repair in 2007.
Mr. Bartel visited JLSS from 17 to 24 September 2017 to check the newly implemented systems and make the final adjustments.
We express our thanks to Mr. Bartel for his wonderful work the last four years and the huge savings on diesel bills that JLSS was able to make as a result of the systems he planned and implemented.
We also express our sincere gratitude to our German partners EVS/EMS who have been supporting this project for the last four years. A special thanks also goes this year to our partners in the United States (the Lutheran Board for Mission Support - USA) who generously supported stage four of the energy project.

The Lutheran Board for Mission Support (LBMS) also supported another project this summer: the renovation of the basketball court. It is completely transformed into a most wonderful court. We also express our sincere gratitude to LBMS for supporting this project.

The complete replacement of the water pipes inside the JLSS campus was another project. The pipes from the Schneller spring in the nearby mountain were replaced 14 years ago, but the pipes inside the campus were the original ones installed in the nineteen fifties. They were mostly rusted, and a lot of water was wasted due to leakage.
The main pipe in front of the Seminar building burst last winter. We had to dig three meters to reach it and make a temporary fix. The board decided to completely replace the water pipes in the campus in summer 2016, but we were not able to do that because the contractor needed all summer to complete the third stage of the energy project. This summer he was able to complete the work just in time for the beginning of the new academic year. Now the whole campus, with the exception of the pipe connecting the vocational workshops to the farm complex, has brand-new water pipes.
Most of those pipes are in the service ducts which we have been building around the campus for the last eleven years. The whole infrastructure in them is accessible and easy to repair.

Stage one of building water ducts around Maria Schneller Hall was completed in addition to Schneller House 2 outside the campus. These water ducts are necessary to protect the foundations of buildings from rain water which has been causing a lot of damage. Schneller House 2 and Maria Schneller Hall were two buildings that needed immediate attention. The duct around Schneller House 2 was completed, but because Maria Schneller Hall is huge, we only did two sides of the building. Next summer we need to complete the project with water ducts around the other two sides. We also need to build water ducts around the carpentry workshop.

The main kitchen in Maria Schneller Hall had its accident-prone slippery tiles finally replaced. When the kitchen was renovated fourteen years ago the tiles used for the floor were not suitable. They were very slippery. Over the last years, a few kitchen cooks ended up in hospital with serious injury or broken bones after slipping on those tiles.
The plan was to replace those tiles many years ago, but because upon inspection we realized that the water pipes, the central heating pipes, and the drainage pipes all needed complete replacement, we decided to wait until we have enough time to do the project, once and for all.
We also discovered the cause of water leakage to the basement after removing the tiles. The old concrete drainage ducts were filled with sand and rubble. Narrow plastic drainage pipes were connected to the main drainage of the cooking pots. The continuous flow of boiling water damaged the plastic pipes and was ending up in the sand under the tiles eventually seeping through the ceiling to the basement. Large steel pipes were installed all the way to the main drainage pipes outside the kitchen. The central heating pipes were fixed and replaced as necessary. Proper drainage pipes and slip-proof kitchen tiles were installed. Finally, our kitchen staff can walk around safely in the kitchen, and the basement is free from damp and water leakage from the upper floor.

The boys toilets of the Elementary School were also renovated. The boys finally have good toilet facilities like the girls whose toilets were renovated in summer 2015.

The last summer project was nothing short of a miracle. A pipe organ in JLSS was beyond our wildest dreams. The founder of JLSS, Rev. Dr. Hermann Schneller, worked very hard to achieve this goal. A pipe organ for St. Michael's Church was part of his plan.
He was able to raise some funds for that project but his successor used the funds to buy various musical instruments instead. Thank God this was not the end of the story!
Organist Klaus Schulten performed a concert in the German Church in Beirut in December 2015. He was visiting the National Evangelical Church in Beirut to check the pipe organ in preparation for a concert. The typical expression today is to say: "by chance", but it was by God's providence that Rev. George D. Haddad and Klaus Schulten met on that day.
Rev. Dr. Habib Badr knowing that Rev. Haddad liked organ music invited him to go into the church to listen to the organ  music and meet Klaus. Both enjoyed the wonderful music Klaus was playing on the NECB pipe organ but more was to follow.
Klaus who had researched the history of the pipe organs of the Schneller Orphanage in Jerusalem was so happy to meet the JLSS director. Rev. Haddad offered to take Klaus to spend the day in JLSS, which he did. Through the day the discussion was always returning to the theme of the music heritage of the Syrian Orphanage in Jerusalem and later in Schneller School.
On the needs list of JLSS was an organ for St. Michael's church. The expectation was not for a pipe organ but rather a digital simulated electronic organ. Klaus informed Rev. Haddad that there are occasional opportunities for acquiring pipe organs from Europe that are not any more used. These organs come from churches that are sold or are in a bad state of repair. Rev. Haddad asked Klaus to try to find such an organ for JLSS but he really never expected this to be realized.
Gerhard Walcker, who is an organ builder, discovered the Conacher pipe organ in Scotland and told Klaus about it. Klaus immediately started working on getting that organ for JLSS.
There were many obstacles to overcome. The cost of dismantling the organ, shipping it to Lebanon, and then rebuilding it in JLSS was huge. Rev. Haddad was given two weeks to find funds for this purpose otherwise the Conacher organ would go to a different institution. The Bishop in Scotland wanted to make sure that the organ will be preserved and used.
Rev. Haddad requested the help of Schneller board members in Beirut and Rev. Dr. Habib Badr. With the full support of Rev. Dr. Badr, they decided to support the project with the cost of dismantling the organ in Scotland and shipping it to Lebanon to be kept in storage until funds are available for the cost of rebuilding it.
Klaus had to try to see if the Bishop in Scotland would agree to this arrangement. In the meantime Rev. Haddad wrote to our German and Swiss partners asking them to support this very important historic project.
Our Swiss partners SVS immediately responded with a generous donation of 8,000 Swiss Franks. This was followed with another generous donation by our German partners, EVS Stiftung, of 10,000 Euro. An article was written by Rev. Dr. Uwe Graebe in the Schneller Magazine asking for donations for this project. Many kind and wonderful people responded very generously. Alumnus Aziz Shalaby and other members of LBMS also sent generous donations. The needed money for rebuilding the organ was available thanks to the generosity of all those wonderful friends of JLSS.
Gerhard and Alexander Walcker who dismantled the organ in Scotland, travelled to Lebanon and spent almost a month in JLSS until they rebuilt the pipe organ, voiced and tuned it.
According to Gerhard the organ couldn't have been more suitable for St. Michael's church even if it were built for it. It fitted perfectly well and it is certainly a wonderful treasure added to our beautiful church.
The pipe organ has 8 stops consisting of two slider-chests and a pedal wind-chest. It was built in 1896 by James Conacher (organ builder of the United Kingdom) for the RC Church of Incarnation in Tombae (Scotland) near Glenlivet.
We express our sincere gratitude to the Church of Saint Sylvester – Elgin and Rev. Colin M. Stewart for donating this organ to Johann Ludwig Schneller School.

We praise God for all those great achievements, and we sincerely thank all our partners and friends for their generosity and kind support.