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Messages sent to SAT-7 reveal how its programs and Viewer Support Teams are giving girls across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) a safe place to speak and the comfort of knowing that someone is listening.
“You know exactly what we’re going through,” says Rawya, a young girl from Lebanon.
For Rawya, SAT-7 offers more than something to watch. It offers the reassurance that others understand her experience.
In Lebanon, violence, loss, and displacement have left more than 770,000 children experiencing heightened distress.1
In these difficult times, young Rawya takes comfort from the SAT-7 KIDS program Jesus Our Strength: “You are the program that, whenever we feel upset or lonely, we just watch you and our energy returns because everything you say is truly real.”
Across the MENA, conflict, displacement, poverty, and discrimination continue to restrict girls’ childhoods and futures. UNICEF estimates that at least 30 million children in the region are out of school,2 while nearly 40 million girls and women were married before the age of 18.3
But statistics cannot tell us what girls struggle to put into words.
“From our conversations with girls, we often see that they are carrying much more than they know how to express,” says Marianne Awaraji, SAT‑7 Arabic Viewer Support Director.
“In our region, girls can grow up with strong expectations around how they should behave, what they should say, and what should remain private. Shame, guilt, and fear of judgment can sometimes make it difficult to speak openly about emotions or struggles, and Christian families are not automatically free from these cultural pressures.”
Through its programs and Viewer Support Teams, SAT-7 creates opportunities for girls to share their fears, questions, prayers, and personal experiences.
“We are not only giving girls Christian content; we are creating safe opportunities for them to speak, ask questions, pray, express their feelings, and know that someone is listening,” Marianne said. “And perhaps that is one of the most important things we can give a girl – not the promise that all her circumstances will immediately change, but a safe voice telling her, ‘You are not alone, and God has not forgotten you.’”
Depending on a girl’s needs, SAT-7’s Viewer Support Teams can pray with her, offer encouragement and Christian resources, provide practical advice, or direct her towards further help.
“Perhaps that is one of the most important things we can give a girl … a safe voice telling her, ‘You are not alone, and God has not forgotten you.’”
What girls share with SAT-7 frequently reveals that, even amid their own struggles, they are thinking about others.
Lily, a teenager in Egypt, speaks openly about her fear of death and losing someone close to her. But her concern reaches beyond herself: “I pray that my friend walks again and that the wars end peacefully,” she says.
When Pari, an Iranian teenager, discovered that a neighbor could not afford treatment for her daughter’s cancer, she gave the family some money. She then introduced the mother to her uncle, a philanthropist, who agreed to pay all the treatment expenses.
“Her mother cried with such joy,” Pari recalls. “At that moment, I understood what helping means. I had such a good feeling; it was as if I was growing wings. I wish we could all take part in such acts.”
Sources
In 2025, at least 82% of your gift went directly to fund programs building up women, children, and families across the Middle East.
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