Know Their Names: Meet Rania and Rana

December 4, 2025

Emily Klooster

Our goals:

A story from Lebanon: Warm Heart School serving 120 students in Bekaa Valley

Delilah, Rana, and Rania are a mother and her two daughters, Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

Delilah’s face brightens as she shares the relief she feels for her daughters, Rana, 18, and Rania, 16, over the home they have found at Warm Heart School. The girls are two of Delilah’s seven children, all Syrian refugees who came to Lebanon from Aleppo 13 years ago, at the start of the Syrian civil war.

“The girls are so pleased to be at school, happier than being at home with me,” Delilah said with a twinkle in her eye. “Warm Heart built trust [with us] and I’m at ease when they’re at school.”

Starting from zero

When the girls began attending Warm Heart five years ago, both were withdrawn and behind in their schooling. “We started from zero, and later got really good with our languages, studying and classes, even with our personalities,” said the younger daughter, Rania. “We became stronger. And now we are out in the community, dealing with people in need.”

Rania, an outgoing girl, holds a part-time job at a local shop alongside her studies. One day a customer came in speaking only English. “No one understood her,” Rania said. “I began to interpret for her and understood what she was asking for,” she added.

Cultivating a sense of empowerment

Saeed Milan is co-founder of Warm Heart and helps run the school and its ministries alongside his father, Pastor Joseph, mother, Lidia, and Warm Heart’s Syrian teachers. Saeed says the challenges faced by Syrian students in Lebanon sometimes seem insurmountable, but the team is cultivating a sense of empowerment and a dedication to service in students.

“We are still struggling to send Syrian kids to the public schools,” Saeed said. “Even with the Syrian and Lebanese kids [going in] two shifts, there are always fights between the kids. So it was dangerous for Syrian families to send their kids to school. Five years ago, Rania and Rana found Warm Heart [instead].”

A struggle to keep children safe

At that time, their mother Delilah was exhausted by the task of keeping her seven children safe among Lebanese children and in the camps. Within weeks of finding Warm Heart, she says: “My girls were always happy when they knew there would be activities happening at the school and they would get to spend the whole day there. I never have to worry when they are there. I don’t have to call and ask where they are, what they are doing, and when they’ll be home.”

Saeed shares the girls are sometimes up to an hour early for school. “They enjoy spending time with us, the respect they receive and the kind treatment,” he said. “They know they are part of the school and community.”

As they’ve gotten older, Rana and Rania have received new opportunities with Warm Heart that go beyond their studies. “We go with Pastor Joseph to other schools [to help],” said Rana. “When the [Israel-Hezbollah] war started, we went along on mission trips. We tried to be useful and give something back. Joseph wants us to learn to give things away – the things we learn, the things we have. He helped us learn how to be beneficial.”

Instead of victims, they are heroes

Saeed says the girls have transitioned from being highly vulnerable, to strong contributing members of the ministry. “Instead of victims they are heroes, doing everything with love and because of our faith. It’s the love of Jesus that is the motive. This makes it beautiful and gives people the healthy support they need. Whether it’s academic, vocational, or service, if it’s done with love with a team that cares for them our students find a space they would like to grow into and are at peace to express themselves with no fear of judgement.”

Rana echoes this when she says she notices a difference between Warm Heart students and those who haven’t gotten the same opportunities. “We learned that we are important. Even we, refugee girls, learned how to make something of ourselves and our futures, and we have decided not to get married early as many other girls in our situation do.”

Avoiding early marriage

Instead of early marriage, the girls are sticking with their academic and vocational classes, including sewing and salon classes at Warm Heart. “People ask us, ‘Where did you get that shirt?'” Rana said, “We are able to say, ‘I made it!'” She also extended an invite to anyone who visits Lebanon: “I will do your nails and make them nice for you!”

For one of their service projects at Warm Heart, the girls helped wrap gifts on New Year’s Eve for kids in need, including Lebanese children who are now also suffering under wartime conditions. “We feel happy that we made those kids happy that night,” said Rania. “We’ve been here 13 years, and I had never left the area we live in, but now with Warm Heart, we’ve traveled all over Lebanon.” •

Year-end 2025’s Know their Names campaign will help deliver safe schools to refugee children in Lebanon. Our goal is to raise $105,000. Together, we can show children God cares for them.