Aid to the Church in Need are preparing to carry out more aid work in Beirut. This is thanks to the support from our generous benefactors.

By ACN Staff

It is hard to believe that it is over a month since the 4th of August when Beirut was rocked by a huge explosion in the city’s port area. In this time Aid to the Church in Need and our partners have been hard at work providing aid to the people of Beirut. Father Raymond Abdo, who works with one of Aid to the Church in Need’s partners in Lebanon, described the blast as follows: “The explosion felt like an atomic bomb with red smoke everywhere and huge damage.”  The next day the Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai, asked the world for help: “Beirut is a devastated city. Beirut, the fiancée of the East and the beacon of the West, is wounded. It’s a war scene – there is destruction and desolation in all its streets, its districts and its houses.” 

The Patriarch’s request for help was well grounded.  Sister Marie Justine el Osta of the Maronite Holy Family Sisters congregation runs a socio-medical intercommunity dispensary in the Nabaa area of Beirut.  The area is predominantly Christians of an impoverished background; the population had initially fled to Nabaa from other parts of Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War.  In recent years they have been joined by foreign workers from countries like Syria, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines.  Sister Marie Justine explained that more damage had been done to this area of Beirut than during the 15 years of the civil war.  Sister Marie Justine has expressed her fear of what may happen in the coming months: “Thank God that the weather is good now but few months from now we might have rain and then it will be a catastrophe. These people urgently need support, as they cannot do the repairs on their own and above all are without work, money, and food”.

The explosion killed more than a hundred people, injured thousands and left 300,000 homeless.  The supply of electricity was already an issue before the explosion, but it has been an acute problem.  The danger of food shortage is an everyday reality. Many church-run schools and hospitals were damaged or destroyed in the blast.  Numerous churches, convents, and other religious houses were also damaged or destroyed in the blast, including St. George’ Maronite Catholic Cathedral.  In the wake of the blast Christians and Christian organisations rallied together to offer relief to those impacted by this disaster.  For example, Monsignor Toufic Bou-Hadir, director of the Maronite Patriarchal Commission for Youth, described how young people went through the city clearing debris and offering aid.

The day after the explosion, Aid to the Church in Need committed €250,000 worth of funds for immediate use.  These funds were used to purchase nearly 6,000 food packages, with each package supporting a family.  The overall Church response in Beirut is being coordinated by the Al Karma committee, which represents the Churches of all the different rites in Lebanon.  Aid to the Church in Need is working closely with the Pontifical Missions Societies, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, and Caritas Lebanon to identify families in need and to distribute food packages to them.  Aid to the Church in Need is now preparing a second wave of aid, funded by emergency campaigns all over the world, including Ireland.  At this stage a needs assessment focused on infrastructure is underway.

The Director of Projects for Aid the Church in Need, Regina Lynch (who is from Ireland), describes the fear that there might be a Christian exodus from Lebanon.  The Christian quarter of Beirut bore the brunt of the blast.  This is concerning as Lebanon is in many ways the only Middle Eastern country that has a sizable Christian population which lives with full political, civil, and religious liberties. Regina has pledged Aid to the Church in Need’s support for the Lebanese Christians: “We want to show them that, through our assistance, there is future for them in a country which for so long has been a beacon of Christianity for the Middle East and beyond”. 

With the generous support offered by our benefactor to our Lebanon emergency campaign we will over the coming months start to help to people of Beirut rebuild.  Regina speaks for all of us when she expresses of her gratitude to all of our benefactors: “We were truly overwhelmed by the sympathy and generosity of the many, many people who responded so compassionately in support of those suffering in Beirut. The messages we have received from those we are helping in Beirut make clear their gratitude to all who responded – the message was clear: those suffering are not alone.” At this fragile time we would ask all of our benefactors and supporters to keep Beirut and the Lebanese people in their prayers.