Lebanon Update
It has nearly been two months since the disastrous explosion in Beirut’s port. Aid to the Church in Need has been hard at work providing aid to the people of Beirut and planning reconstruction work for the coming months.
By ACN Staff
Richard Bakes (second from the right) with Archbishop Georges Bacouni (centre) and ACN and cathedral staff in the Melikte Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of the Annunciation, Beirut. (Credit: Aid to the Church in Need).
Between the 7th and 16th September Richard Backes, head of projects in the Middle East for Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), visited Beirut to help carry out an assessment of the work that will be needed in the coming months. While in Beirut Richard saw the difficult conditions people are living in. Over half of Lebanon’s population lives below the poverty line and over the last year the Lebanese currency has collapsed with a decrease of 80% of its purchasing power. It is a struggle for people to get the basics to live. For example, Bassima, a 41-year-old mother of three, struggles to feed her family with her husband’s earnings as a taxi driver. Bassima has to rely on the Socio-Medical Intercommunity Dispensary in the Nabaa area of Beirut for many of the basics.
Bassima with her son Charbel collecting a food package from the Nabba dispensary. (Credit: Aid to the Church in Need).
The dispensary has distributed food packages supplied by ACN to 786 families. This is just a small fraction of the 5800 families which have been supported by food packages provided by ACN. Each food package contains basic food supplies such as lentils, beans, canned food, and cooking oil. The director of the dispensary in Nabaa, Sister Marie Justine el Osta of the Maronite Sisters of the Holy Family, has expressed her gratitude for the help supplied by Aid to the Church: “I thank God that He sent ACN to organize together to help us. It’s a sign that the Church is close to our people in their suffering. I hope for more collaboration and projects to come.”
Distribution of food packages provided by Aid to the Church in Need. (Credit: Aid to the Church in Need).
It was clear during Richard’s visit to Beirut that the Lebanese people will need help for some time to come. While in Lebanon Richard visited 23 different churches, monasteries, convents, and other church buildings that were badly damaged by the August blast. He also met with 7 bishops from various Catholic rites and other eastern denominations, as well as the Papal Nuncio Archbishop Joseph Spiteri. Presently ACN is looking at carrying out repair work in partnership with the Maronite, Melkite, and Latin Catholic Churches as well as the Orthodox Church. Richard was accompanied in his trip to Beirut by an engineer, who has previously work ACN in Iraq, to help carry out an engineering assessment of what would be required in the reconstruction works. After carrying out these assessments the focus of ACN’s work in Beirut in the coming months is to identify buildings that need to be secured for winter and carry out the necessary repair work on these buildings before winter sets in.
Damage to Saviour Church, Beirut. (Credit: Aid to the Church in Need).
It is vital that we as Catholics stand beside the Christians of Lebanon in offering support to them in their time of need. Lebanon is the last secure Christian foothold in the Middle East. Richard Backes gives us further detail on the importance of Lebanon: “It has also become a place of refuge for Christians from other countries of the Middle East such as Syria and Iraq. The Lebanese Christians are much respected in society, the Christian schools highly appreciated by people of all faiths.” Emigration has been the main reason for the decline of Middle Eastern Christianity. It is a possibility that Lebanon’s Christians have reached a tipping point and will leave Lebanon in large numbers. If this happens the last stable Christian foothold in the Middle East will be gone.
Richard Bakes (first figure on the right) with Maronite Youth group who have been helping in the aftermath of the explosion. (Credit: Aid to the Church in Need).
The faith shown by Middle Eastern Christians, including Lebanese Christians, is a true inspiration and is an example of how we can walk with Christ in our own lives. For example, Abeer is a 33-year-old mother of a four-year-old boy. She has a degree in hospital management but has struggled to find a job, with her husband having to emigrate to support the family. Abeer, like many others, must rely on the dispensary run by Sister Marie Justine el Osta in Nabaa for necessities. Despite all these struggles Abeer remains hopeful and trusts in God: “God will never leave us. I have a lot of faith. That’s why I can stand up. And I will teach my faith to my son”. It is vital that organisations like ACN to continue working in Lebanon so that future generations of Christians, like Abeer’s son, will be able to live and strive in Lebanon in the decades to come.