The Garderêve nursery was shut down on July 11, 2023 after a video leaked depicting child abuse. (Credit: Hussam Chbaro)
On Monday, a video depicting the abuse of young children at Garderêve nursery in Jdeideh went viral on social media, triggering a strong reaction across the population. Within hours, a Facebook page emerged demanding the imprisonment of the perpetrator. The page quickly amassed over 200 followers.
In response, the Health Ministry shut down the establishment abruptly.
After the video was leaked, angry parents who had entrusted their children to the nursery rushed to the premises on Monday evening. They dismantled the nursery’s signs and documented the incident on social media.
Youssef, whose two-year-old child was under the nursery’s care, expressed his dismay. “This woman lacks any moral conscience,” he said, recalling that his son, who used to communicate verbally, had been silent for a while, which led him to suspect abuse. Youssef called upon the Lebanese government to safeguard parents and children.
‘We need to see a psychologist. Parents and children alike’
L’Orient-Le Jour contacted some of the parents who entrusted the nursery with their children.
“I don’t comprehend anything. I’m completely lost,” Denise Rizk Massouh. Massouh, who had been sending her son to Garderêve for the past two years, is struggling to cope with the disturbing footage and its implications.
“I couldn’t sleep the entire night. All I did was rush to my son’s side to make sure he was safe. Then I would return, only to find myself running back again,” she said.
“Lately, my son has been waking up in the middle of the night, screaming at the top of his lungs. It was happening more frequently and I simply attributed it to bad dreams or perhaps a disturbing video he had seen.”
Massouh reflected on how everything holds a different significance for her now. She blames herself for not seeing reality. “I remember a specific instance when I observed my son’s foot swollen and discolored, appearing blue. Back then, I dismissed it as a regular fall, but now I find myself questioning. Could she [the woman in the video] have deliberately caused him to stumble?”
Naji Massouh, Denise’s husband, left work immediately upon learning the news. He was among the parents that stormed the nursery on Monday.
The following day, he joined a demonstration outside the Jdeideh police station, demanding severe punishment for the culprits.
“We require the assistance of a doctor and a psychologist, both for parents and children,” Denise expressed. She attempted to reach out to her neighbor, who happens to be the nursery’s headmistress. “She didn't respond, but I managed to contact her ex-husband. His response was simply to urge everyone to remain calm.”
Vigilance and concern
Many rumors related to the incident circulated on the internet. A source within the Internal Security Forces (ISF) confirmed to L’Orient-Le Jour that the parents did not gather at the residence of one of the suspects with the intention of lynching her. The ISF further revealed that two suspects were apprehended by the Jdeideh police on Monday evening.
Sarah*, a young mother of two daughters residing in New Rawda, [a suburb in Beirut] said, “If it were my child, I would have personally confronted that criminal.”
Since the Garderêve incident, Sarah’s fear of her children enduring mistreatment has intensified, even if they attend a different daycare center.
She recounted a troubling experience, “Today, when I dropped off my daughter as usual, I overheard a woman shouting, ‘Yesterday, we witnessed children being struck. Today, I will hit you.’ Horrified, I immediately alerted the nursery, and their response was that it was merely her way of joking and engaging with the children.”
Sarah moved her daughter to a daycare closer to home after the incident.
“For the past two months, I’ve noticed that my daughter returns home hungry all the time. The nursery provides minimal information about their activities and how they handle meals,” she explained.
Sarah recounted an unsettling incident.“One day, my daughter told me that a teacher hit her. I immediately approached the director, who confronted the staff member involved. Their response was simply that they had disciplined my daughter. To me, it seems excessive to label a two-year-old as being ‘punished.’”
Sarah is now advocating for the installation of surveillance cameras in the nursery to gather concrete evidence. The viral videos have only intensified her concerns, making it even more challenging for the young mother to find reassurance.
Several associations have condemned the actions that took place at Garderêve, including the “Dire non à la violence” (Say No to Violence) association. Since 2012, this collective has been actively involved in identifying and monitoring instances of violence against women and children.
According to Tarek Abouzeinab, the association's president, there has unfortunately been a rise in such cases in 2020, exacerbated by the impact of the Covid pandemic on the already existing economic crisis.
“The videos depicting abuse against children that go viral on social media help us to quickly identify the problems, but first we have to send them to the authorities,” Abouzeinab continued. In his view, the priority is for justice to take its course and for charges to be imposed.
*First name has been changed
This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour. Translation by Sahar Ghoussoub.
