You are currently browsing the daily archive for July 22nd, 2006.
Yes you are guilty,
You who make weapons,
You who decide to fight,
You who are silent,
You who can see little children dying and do nothing,
You who are far from Lebanon and think you are not responsible,
You who are in Lebanon and think of its future while other are loosing their life.
Yes you are guilty, and don’t run away from this truth. One day you not only will face your creator, but also all the innocent people who died in this cruel war.
Till when will we be in war with our neighbors?
Until when do we let others decide for us?
Put yourself in the place of a person in the South, dying or frightened to death from Israeli missiles and think again about what you want to do.
As Christians, we do not fear the ones who can kill our body but we do fear the ones who can kill both our body and soul.
I am a Lebanese but I do NOT want to leave and seek to obtain another nationality; especially not from a country who signed the human rights but does not respect them.
In fact, I now reject all nationalities in this world, also mine; I want to be without nationality, because of what I experienced in life.
I can not say that I once heard of a country that is totally against war.
I only desire to be a Christian.
Not because of the Christian witnessing, but because of Jesus Christ who was The man of peace and still is.
Yes, I do feel sorry for you who are guilty…
I Dona Abou Younes – a Christian girl, who is now without any nationality – search for humanity inside every person on this earth.
Act, say something, do something, but please do not ignore your role in this matter, because you will be guilty then.
A tribute to true humanity!
Saturday July 22, 5 pm
An extremely tiring morning…with many practical problems: the NGO who used to bring cooked food won’t do this anymore as of Monday, so looking for gas and cooking utensils …World Vision (WV) comes and donates them to the schools…
World Vision is fantastic; they are a Christian NGO and focus on “children”.
In such circumstances there are always people who like to play it politically…I refuse to make any distinction between people. Our coordinator is a great woman; she knows how to deal with them and talks firmly. Some people registered names of refugees not present, the school director, together with WV ask us to check upon those families and see who’s actually there and a refugee and who’s not. So we drag from family to family, checking….
When we arrive at school, all the children come to us and yell: are we going to play today? Dona tells them: no, but on Monday we will. They’re disappointed and their faces change…
The school building needs cleaning with so many families living together. So women and children start cleaning. I do admire those kids, they keep up the spirit and are willing to help.
Again some of them seem to be sicker, more fragile…Mariam, a baby girl of 24 days is not well at all. She will have to see the pediatrician again on Monday.
Suddenly a huge noise: a bomb destroyed the LBC (Lebanese Broad Casting corporation international), a man died.
Perhaps tomorrow we won’t have internet access anymore or mobile access coz those stations are systematically destroyed.
I’m exhausted, need to sleep …think and pray.
Today is the Belgian national holiday…about 10 days ago I received an invitation to attend a reception at the residence. I kindly thanked them and apologized having made other arrangements.
I’m not registered with the Belgian embassy but “known” by it as I have my official address in Belgium.
Now, after 10 days, I haven’t been contacted by my embassy. So when I called the Belgian helpline 2 days ago, I had the consul on the line and he said that he was leaving the next morning at 6 30 Am. When I asked him why the embassy didn’t yet contact me he said: where do u live and when I told him he said: this is not a zone with priority for evacuation. I then asked him where he lived and he said: also there…strange isn’t it that a zone can have both priority and non-priority!!
Not that I consider going back to Belgium. My life lies here and I would not go back in such circumstances, because who am I to have the choice to go back or not? So many Lebanese do not have this choice…only the ones who have several nationalities. I will not leave until all Lebanese leave or have the chance to leave.
Talking about going back: a very good friend of mine came here to visit his grandfather in Saida and got stuck there. As he’s in fact living in Jordan and was even born there, he also owns the Jordanian citizenship. His family – living in Jordan – is very upset and tries to have him back and finally today he was able to make it here to Beirut, after a very dangerous trip…
I met him and we called the Jordanian embassy and fortunately for him the last 2 buses were leaving Beirut tonight. So we hurried to Baabda, passed in front of the destroyed bridge next to the Baabda municipality and finally arrived at the embassy.
With all respect my friend was welcomed and told that this were the last buses for evacuation, that they were free of charge and that they would leave as soon as the expected number was complete. My point is: how astonished I was when the Jordanian guy invited me and my Lebanese female friend to come along. I first thought he was joking but no…he wasn’t at all.
I can assure you that this gesture meant a lot to me.
The NGO I work for, called Ayadina (Arabic meaning: our hands) works in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Beirut. This area has a beautiful committee of coordination that now works in relief aid for the displaced.
So as for today: a copy of the previous days of this last week.
The different NGO’s (ODS, World vision, Caritas…and ourselves) invest with their volunteers and try to help those people. We got assigned 2 public schools where 230 displaced settled down. We go down in the morning, try to assess the needs, try to be a presence and give special attention to the kids who’re truly traumatized…
We play with them…imagine this child of 6 who’s extremely violent and after the first day comes and thanks us…the eyes of the girl who kept screaming yesterday but today played peacefully and asked if we’re coming back or not…
We take sick kids to dispensaries, and here I want to pay a tribute to those dispensaries who open 24/24 like the Armenian relief Cross… to Karaghosian dispensary who welcomes the children and treats them, not just only professionally but also has a listening ear to those small, insignificant “little pains” and gives them all their attention and medical means…yes chapeau bas for all those individuals and NGO’s who help regardless of religion…
Most of the displaced are Shiites, so Muslims, whereas the majority of the helpers are Christians. To me this means an evangelical challenge.
Dit is zogezegd de Nationale Belgische feestdag. 10 dagen geleden kreeg ik een uitnodiging van de Belgische ambassade voor een receptie ter gelegenheid van de Belgische Nationale feestdag. Ik belde en bedankte vriendelijk en verontschuldigde me omdat ik reeds een andere afspraak had.
Sinds de oorlog begon werd ik nog niet gecontacteerd door de Belgische ambassade. In Beiroet ben ik “gekend” door de ambassade maar niet ingeschreven omdat ik officieel mijn adres in Belgie heb. Ik belde 2 dagen geleden ‘s avonds de hulplijn voor Belgen en had de consul aan de lijn die me vertelde dat hij de volgende morgen vertrok om 6 30 AM. Toen ik hem vroeg waarom de ambassade me nog niet belde, vroeg hij me waar ik woonde. Toen ik hem mijn adres zei, vertelde hij me dat dit geen prioritaire zone was. Toen ik hem vroeg waar hij woont zei hij me dat hij in dezelfde wijk woont. Grappig hoe een zone wel en niet prioritair kan zijn…
Niet dat ik eraan denk om naar Belgie terug te keren…Mijn leven ligt hier en in deze omstandigheden wil ik zeker niet terug. Waarom zou ik de keuze hebben terug te keren en anderen niet?
In de NGO waar ik werk, Ayadina, sloten de vrijwilligers zich aan bij het coordinatie comite en proberen de vele displaced te helpen. De wijk waar we werkzaam zijn is 1 van de armste van Beiroet en ongeveer 22 NGO’s zijn er werkzaam.
Vandaag, zoals alle dagen deze week, ging ik naar de 2 scholen waar nu 230 displaced people samenzitten…de noden zijn groot…de middelen niet voldoende maar er is veel goede wil. We spelen met de kinderen die duidelijk getraumatiseerd zijn, we nemen de zieke kinderen onder hen naar 1 van de vele dispensaria die hun centrum openzetten en gratis allen verzorgen. We gaan vooral naar Karakosian, een armeens dispensarium dat prachtig werk doet en niet alleen hee; professioneel de kinderen verzorgt maar evengoed oor heeft voor de kleinere, minder belangrijke pijntjes, die gewoon om aandacht vragen.
Kinderen die soms de hele tijd staren maar niets zeggen, die met moeite komen spelen of heel gewelddadig zijn…
Nadien gaan we naar 2 andere centra waar we heel primaire verzorging doen: schaafwonden, post-op verzorgingen…
Your cedars are weeping again, O Lebanon,
with tears of blood and sweat,
your mountains are crying aloud, O Lebanon,
with voices of pain and despair.
Land of the Purple Empire,
once proud and mighty
you are again suffering the pain of war,
inflicted not only by strangers
but by some of your own children, as well…
How many wounds, how much bleeding
can you sustain princess of the East?
How much bending can you take
before you break?
Hold-on, daughter of the sun,
hold-on, nymph of the sea,
destruction and fire cannot end
your cycle of life.
Survive you will,
revival you shall see,
your wounds shall heal
your spirit shall be lifted
and the love of your children
– your true children –
will prove mightier than the sword!
For your cedars
are deeply rooted in your soul
and will hold it whole,
until the new dawn arrives.
Don’t despair, O Lebanon!
You will stand up again, proud
and stronger than ever before!
© George C. Chryssis
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