Sparks of Peace amidst Flames of War in Lebanon

      Like all other Lebanese villages that have not yet been bombed, Biacout is crowded with both Christian and Muslim families, that fled from the southern regions of Beirut. Here there is a small pilot project set up by the volunteers of the Focolare Movement during the war of the 80’s.   They wanted to create an oasis of peace where people could live together in harmony. Presently, it is living a new phase of its “vocation”.

     At the Medical Social Centre we met Acia, a lady we first met 20 years ago, when together with her family and hundreds of other people, she fled from her village at the south of Lebanon. We  met her at the beach.  She had neither shelter nor food; she had nothing.  We tried to help her and since then our relationship became much stronger.

     Today the story is starting all over again. Acia has welcomed in her home three families, who come from her village, and two old people.  Her precarious situation does not stop her from sharing her belongings with others. “We try to do the best we can”, she told us. “ As it is summer, men can sleep on the terrace;  but we still need mattresses.   Most of all we  need medicines for the children, for my mother and my mother-in-law. Even my husband needs medicines.”  In fact, about a year ago it was discovered that her husband is suffering from muscular sclerosis and since then he has been receiving treatment. She continued, “Today, other families have been offered shelter  by my neighbour. They are in  a very  bad state,  in need of everything”.

     We shared with them all that we had and then continued our round. We arrived at Notre Dame Home, built when the war was at its worst, to be a haven of peace and of sharing. Sawsan, the kindergarten teacher is presently giving shelter to 8 Muslim families. They thank “Allah” that they are here and hope that their relatives, who live  very near to the border, are safe and  sound.

     Very angrily, one of them blurted out, “Let us hope “Allah” burns all those who are killing us”.  But immediately she said: “This is too much for me!  I become upset and I   become very angry when I see what is happening and what has happened; but I know that even the people on the other side are suffering because of this war”.  Fatmè confirmed: “We are all God’s children. May the almighty Allah instil calmness in hearts and in spirits and may he help us to live again in peace.”

     Meanwhile Wardè, a young Christian arrived. During the last war she fled from the south together with her husband and children  and she found refuge in Biacout. Lately she returned to the south. “Now, thank God, we are back to Biacout! None  of us has been wounded or struck.  We are three families who live together. We have nothing; we are afraid of what is happening  and of what might  happen to us.”

     While we were talking, I saw  some Schiiti women holding long rosary beads in their hands. They were praying to the Great “Allah”, praising and thanking him. And we left each other on this very beautiful spiritual note.

     Wardè accompanied us and we tried to share her suffering. We went back to the car and  in our hearts we could feel the pleasantness of the moments lived together at Notre Dame Home and the bitterness of the cry of suffering that re-echoes everywhere.