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 The Al-Kafaàt story begins in the remote village of Salima where in 1957 a young Nadim Shwayri chose to devote his personal wealth and life to help the less privileged. There, in a Convent held by the French Congregation Notre-Dame des Apôtres, he established a primary and a catering school for young girls from socially disadvantaged backgrounds.
He was quickly confronted to the sad reality of secluded people with disabilities when one morning in 1957, a young girl with severe quadriplegia and in lack of proper rehabilitation equipment asked to be integrated into the Salima program.   
Not wanting to make contingencies for this young girl alone, Nadim thought he should take his fight to the society at large, in defiance to its hitherto reclusive attitude. He came up with an entrepreneurial idea. With only three employees, he started a leather production workshop in a rented apartment in Beirut ; the proceeds were invested in making artificial limbs, braces, and orthopedic seating for the handicapped. The leather enterprise looked rather normal to the naked eye; but actually, its three employees were adults with physical and mental disabilities.
What was considered by many to be a mad idea in the late fifties, soon became a pioneering project. Demands for employment increased dramatically, while sales grew internationally. Nadeem then decided to deliver thorough rehabilitation services by constructing the Lily Shwayri Center , a purpose-built compound that included, along with the developed factory, an academic school for children with disabilities and a unit for producing rehabilitation equipment for both students and the public.
On the eve of the Lebanese civil war, the factory was employing 170 workers – all with disabilities, but all taxpayers! The factory was the key provider for the rehabilitation and education of children with disabilities. It was then proven that any person, regardless of her/his physical or mental challenge, regardless of her/his social challenges, could be productive and foster economic wealth in society, if given the appropriate training and exposed to an adapted environment. "Potentials, not handicaps" then became the motto of Al-Kafaàt (literally "Abilities" in Arabic).
Gradually, the organization grew and developed new services in light of the increasing demands for proper rehabilitation, particularly in times of war. And in order to ensure the organization's continuity, Nadim institutionalized Al-Kafaàt in the mid-seventies, enabling it to blossom under the governance of a viable organization. It was at that point in time that both Nadim and his wife Lily turned their family wealth into an endowment fund devoted solely to the then established Foundation. In this way, Al-Kafaàt became detached from the person of its founder to further develop under the guidance of an elected Board of Trustees.
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