Mariam is 15 and her sister Rima is 16 years old.
Their father is an alcoholic and addicted to gambling. He neither works   nor supports his family. While their mother is sick and suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes. Therefore she needs a permanent medication. Moreover their older brother is unemployed. Furthermore their father is very abusive, meaning he beat them continuously. Several times they ran away from their home and slept on the streets.
Due to their deteriorating economic condition their mother made them support their family: She forced them to work as dancers in night clubs.
At the beginning the girls did not know the risk of it and therefore welcomed the idea. It seemed to be just an alternative place to sleep – better than sleeping in the streets. By the time the girls were disgusted by their job and saw the dangerous side of it.  Not least they were exposed to several harassments. While a social worker of Dar Al Amal was visiting the families in an area in Beirut, and was informing girls about the center, she was introduced to Rima and Mariam.  He/she encouraged them to come to the center and join the literacy session. The girls showed great commitment by coming to the shelter, but after a while, they stopped appearing. The social worker visited their home and met the mother, who claimed they were working until late hours.  Therefore they were not able to wake up early in the mornings in order to come to the center Moreover they needed money for her medical treatment and other family expenses.
So the family was followed up and informed about the danger of the girls working in night clubs.
After that, Mariam and Rima continued their classes in the center and joined the English session as well. In addition to psychological and social follow up they joined several recreational activities.
The follow up continues, but the girls need time to forget about their experiences and to adopt with their new opportunities.