Monthly Archive

Look what Tania, a friend of mine, writes and feel free to comment.

I am a young Lebanese girl, who always dreamed to have a normal country
without any war around it. I have dreamed to have a great nation, prosper
and modern. But till now I have never had it. We have all dreamed of it but,
elders and young we have never had a small portion of this dream. Have we
ever asked ourselves why? What is the main reason? Or we just lived waiting
for others to act, or maybe we believed in people and fallowed them.
I also asked another question. Why Lebanese people are so brilliant and
smart and successful in foreign countries, and sometimes they reach the top
in these countries, while they are a mess in their own country which is also
a mess? I believe that we are great people, smart and advanced. I truly
believe this, but the problem is that we are great individually. Never
together. You know why. Because when we are in a group, we always are
influenced with others ideas and sometimes we forget ours and start to shut
our brains off.
Today I invite you to switch it on. Start thinking about you, others and
your country, Lebanon, and how we all should rebuild it to live in it
peacefully.
Think first of Lebanon, not Iran, USA, France, Syria, not of Hassan
Nasrallah, Michel Aoun, Saad al Hariri, Walid Jomblat, Samir Geagea, and
so and so. Don’t think of parties, colors or religions. Think of Lebanon.
Don’t think of war, destruction and Chairs, think of prosperity, peace,
love, and tolerance. These can bring your country back to life.
Forget the past, and start building your future. Forget your leaders; don’t
worship them, they are just people who can make mistakes. Worship God, He
will give you the wisdom to continue, the strength to achieve your
goals, and the persistence to accomplish your cause.
Lebanon is on the stake now. If you don’t start thinking and acting for this
cause, you will find yourself in the future without a country. It will die
forever. Now it is your choice, what would it be?
“Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.”(Mother Teresa).

Tania

With 60 children aged 5 - 16 we went to Mac Donalds. The kids were over-excited and it was very hard to keep them a bit disciplined. MacDo was full. They had face painting done, some animation and were then served. For those children of Nabaa this was the first time they ever ate there. In fact we took the kids from the street and invited them, a real adventure! We did decide though that if they were to be enrolled in our children’s program that we would have to give a certain type of “behavior” skills.

Yesterday was Eid El Fitr marking the end of the fasting month Ramadan. It is an official holiday so we go and visit our Moslim friends. Today we take 60 children to Mac Donalds to have their “happy meal”. Pictures are to follow…

We are really busy preparing for the children’s programs next month. We will be having: ballet, international dance, drawing, piano, choir and drama. We enter the govermental schools of the area in order to recrute the children. Why governmental schools? Because in Lebanon, perhaps despite all efforts, those (almost free) schools do not have the same level as private schools. They do not have those programs. So we offer it free for the children of the Nabaa area. The team that is working is enthusiastic and we hope this year will be fruitful for all even though we start later because of the war.

The flyer you see is what we will distribute in the schools, after which an audition will take place in order to select the kids.

A senior citizen who regularily comes to Ayadina was attacked and robbed in plain daylight in Beirut. The old woman wore some gold bracelets and she was beaten up and only remembers that she awoke at the hospital. Apparently passers-by must have found her and brought her to the hospital. This is outrageous! The lady, let us call her Amine, lives alone and has no income she wanders from one charity organization to another and eats there. You may ask: why then, if she’s poor, does she wear gold bracelets? In the oriental - let’s say Islamic - culture, these bracelets are offen offered at marriage and are a kind of investment for women. This is all she has!

Are you aware of the newest fashion in Soweto (South-Africa)? Train surfing. According to Euronews, male youth from destitute areas jump on trains and try to “surf” = avoid the electric wires all along the trip. Apparently they do this to impress girls or in order to belong and be accepted by gangs. Many accidents happen as this new “sport” is extremely dangerous. I am stunned! What really lies behind this? I would call it rather suicidal…

Some pictures of our Iftar last Saturday. It was a cloudy day and from Saturday till now Monday it almost didn’t stop raining. This is the first rain this season and ss we say in Arabic: barake = blessing.

The Iftar menu: Dates, jallab, fattouche (salad), soup, small pastries, (meat) kibbe bi senniye, rice with chicken, and of course fruit and sweets.

This time we had it downstairs because there were only 60 people present. We all enjoyed the event.

Look what appeared in the Flemish newspaper “The gazet van Antwerpen”:

Title: Belgium first sends an exploration mission to Lebanon.

Left: We searched the whole area, here is one and there is also one!

Right: Hi Brussels, we only found 2 pubs. Please bring our own beer with you!

So apparently  our Belgian soldiers lack pubs!

Since Monday the Greek melkite church holds a Synod (= a special council of church members gathering to discuss several topics and sometimes to vote new bishops). This important gathering will last for 5 days  and needs prayer. I invite hereby every person willing to pray, to pray in his/her way so that God’s will may be done.

Ramadan is more than halfway, on Saturday we will host a new Iftar at the center for 50 people from the Nabaa area, different ones than those who attended the first one. So as you can guess we are preparing for it.

Yesterday Belgium had elections. Even though I left my country of origin Belgium 21 years ago, I still try to follow its political events as much as I can, which is not that much, but at least I try. Personally I am very much against any political party showing extremistic programs, but I understand that some people might feel attracted to those demagogues leading such a party.
My nephew Dirk (Nazareth, East-Flanders and Eco = green) has been chosen again in the municipality Nazareth. This is fantastic, I know he has been doing a great job in the past and he will continue to make a difference in the lives of many.

As for Ghent, my hometown the results are the following: Result

Today …the big day. The first day of school. normally school would have started a week or 2 ago, but because of the war and the rehabilitation of schools, everything was postponed.

The public schools did not charge their symbolic fees of 100 $ (year), but only took between 10 and 13 $. They have been sponsored by the Saudi government. The big problem is the semi-free schools who usually charge between 200 and 400 $. They did not receive any funds and so both directions and parents have to cope with the increasing demands.

Yesterday whole groups of families with children were “invading” the malls, trying to buy as much stationary for the lowest prices.

A conference took place yesterday at Ayadina’s premises. Theme: Art of living.

One should presume that many people might be interested to hear about “art of living”. We all lead our life, some manage it painfully, others seem to have more know-how how to live, others search for sources outside themselves as references, yet all of us are well acquainted with a certain amount of stress. De-stressing was the main theme of this conference given by Mr. Oscar Eid. He talked about breathing exercises, a way of living…all very enriching. But very few people came to listen!

We have just come back from a trip with our senior citizens to Beit Mery. For those elderly living in the Nabaa, Borj Hammoud area, going to the mountains is a real outing and they enjoyed it very much. We were with 60 elderly, we danced, ate and cut the birthday cake for the ones who celebrated their birthday in the last 3 months.

As you can see these are some pictures of the Friday Iftar. It was a real success. Families came and the atmosphere was very pleasant. Some senior citizens were brought by car and also attended the event. May God bless the sponsors.

At the same time this was the first event taking place on the second floor. A floor that will be used as a center for Culture and Fine Arts for children. There is also the big hall, used as conference room and it is in this hall that the Iftar took place. A nice happening to inaugurate the upper floor with!