A few weeks ago saw an incursion of Israel into Lebanon. We wanted to know how our brothers (and sisters) were coping with the situation, so we interviewed Paul Codouni. Paul is a lifelong brother from Lebanon. He is part of the house of our six brothers north of Beirut.
One positive fruit has been the growth of our outreach meetings: it might simply be that people have more time or less money to spend; but there also seems to be a genuine hunger for security and God.
NL: Please explain a bit the current security situation in Lebanon and how people are coping with it
PC: It all started with the strange event of pagers exploding all over the country, targeting Hezbollah. Still we did not believe a war would start, but we were wrong.
Of course the south has been most directly affected, but many places in the country are being targeted. Jounieh, a city north of us and a Christian stronghold, was also affected. We had just moved our Scouts camp there, for security reasons, and that very day a bomb exploded.
This has led to roughly a million people from the south being displaced, all of whom are looking for other places to stay. So in our area, and even more so if you drive to Beirut, you run into lots of people and cars.
The first two weeks were harder, in part because it all happened so suddenly, but now we are almost back to normal- Lebanese have gotten used to wars over time. The schools stopped for two weeks, so did universities: now schools are back, and universities are either functioning online or on a hybrid model.
One interesting thing is that while older people still remember the days of the 80s when the civil war raged, for a younger generation this is all completely new territory. One positive fruit has been the growth of our outreach meetings: it might simply be that people have more time or less money to spend; but there also seems to be a genuine hunger for security and God.
Some community members are more affected than others because they live in central Beirut, from where they can both hear and see the bombardment. So some have moved to summer homes or friends further away from the city. But on the whole, people go back to school and work- life goes on.
NL: And how does this affect you brothers, your life together and your participation in community life.
PC: For the first two weeks Joe Fahd, who works as a teacher, was home. That made our schedule a bit more relaxed. Serge Saadeh is away serving in Poland at the moment: but for a while it was not clear whether the airport was going to be open and whether he could leave the country. Elio, one of the affiliates, is now working from home more often. There is also Thomas, who runs up to two school retreats a week: he had to stop his service since the retreats were postponed. John Keating leads a weekly intercession meeting for the situation in the country at the community center, and we attend. But yes, life goes on.
While the overall economic situation has somewhat stabilized, people who rely on daily and weekly salaries such as car mechanics or physiotherapists are of course hard up, because people postpone non-essential expenses and activities.
But on the whole, people go back to school and work- life goes on.
NL: Tell me a bit about the recent UCO project you were involved in
PC: We have a priest friend who, four years ago, started a soup kitchen. He was serving a modest number of poor people. But with the start of the war, things got ramped up and he needed help. So, we encouraged our students, especially while universities were closed, to help with packaging, distributing, washing up and talking to those coming in for food. The project is called “Mariam’s kitchen” and serves about 3500 meals a day. It is a modest way to help displaced people, especially from the south.
The community has also taken various initiatives intended to help the poor, and our brother Thomas is helping out by driving a van with mattresses and other goods.
The project is called “Mariam’s kitchen” and serves about 3500 meals a day. It is a modest way to help displaced people, especially from the south.
NL: In closing, give us three intentions we could pray for.
PC: First of all, protection for all the innocent people affected by the war. Secondly, for a long-term resolution of the conflict. Finally that God would use us brothers, the community and the all the Christians here during this time of crisis.
Thank you, Paul, for your encouraging words.
