Greetings from Beirut!

June 8, 2005

Marhaba min Beirut!Well, the group which I led is on their way home. Just a few days to go beforeI fly to Kabul, and I'm getting excited. I guess if I don't get this letterwritten now it might not happen, especially since Afghanistan will be sointense. Really, I'm trying to rest up before I get there. Along with learningthose Persian languages, watching al-Jazeera, and reading _From Beirut toJerusalem_ , a big thick book with tons of detail on the history of Lebanon andSyria. Tomorrow I'm meeting people at the Near East School of Theology near ourhotel for lunch and a get to know the school visit. Hmm... do I see 'exchangestudent' in my future? Seminary on the Mediterranean does have a certainappeal....anyway, there is a possibility that I could lead the next trip here inthe fall, which I would love. I feel very much at home here, and could loveboth these countries almost as much as I love Palestine.My friend Natalie from seminary quotes a t-shirt which says 'Beirut..I love it!'but wasn't sure if I should come. I have found the city to be a psychologicalwonder. It is being quickly rebuilt, and has a very easy-going, Mediterraneanstyle to it, sidewalk cafes and flowers and brick-paved pedestrian zones; I havefelt very safe and welcome here. However, every last block of the city stillhas bullet holes. Churches, mosques, hotels, schools. Haute coture boutiques.Government buildings. Skyscrapers. The physical scars remain, though the cityis very much alive. Of course, I think a lot of pain still ebbs beneath thesurface of the people, as well as fear. It could all happen again. That wasthe fear of this spring. I wish I had more time here to talk to people, but atleast I'm making friends I can write to later. Meanwhile, to see whatincredible destruction took place before and how much has been rebuilt gives memuch hope for Baghdad. I don't know about Fallujah. What we did there was evenworse than Sabra and Shatila. But hope for Baghdad is enough.I realize now my first message from the trip simply disappeared. This toldabout my experiences in South Lebanon, (yes, that South Lebanon), being asked tospeak on short notice at a press conference on South Lebanese Independence Day,and being on pan-Arabic TVand radio. This was a bit anxiety-producing as thepress conference had been called by a certain sheikh in a certain politicalmovement known in the area... If you read Arabic, you might find an article inal Mustaqbul paper from two weeks ago; basically I said that I believe humanrights and nonviolence are essential for children grow up with hope for apeaceful future. Later, we were treated to lunch in a beautiful restaurant inthe hills. It was a reasonably pleasant and safe trip there overall.I also wrote of our visit to the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps,the ones which Israeli-backed Christian militias entered and massacred thousandsof people in 1982. There is an enclosed garden now over the site of the massgrave which holds many of the bodies, which had lain in the streets several daysafter they were killed. We also passed a small mosque which had been so full ofbodies that they had to turn it into a masoleum. A few years ago I learned thedefense mechanism of never imagining my own family members in a situation whereI would lose them in war. It is too hard to cope with the overwhelming emotionsof such a place as it is.But life in the camps goes on. We also met with the Najdeh association forwomen, which includes vocational training and domestic violence programs inseveral of the camps throughout Lebanon. The woman in charge, Leila, knows myformer boss from Nazareth, Aida. It's a small world. We're invited backtomorrow as well. Leila's relatives all moved to Canada a while ago, but sheremains to be a leader, "until we can all go back to our homes," she said.Amazing strength.The last thought is that a new friend yesterday told me I speak Arabic'cocktail': a little Palestinian, a little Iraqi, a touch of Jordanian; myArabic teacher is Syrian, my textbook is Egyptian, and now I'm in Lebanon. BonApetit!I'll try to write more in a few days, so much is going on that it is hard to putit all down at once. I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer!peace,Le Anne