Escalating since October 2019, the political and economic crisis is driving Lebanon to the brink of bankruptcy. The tragic situation has been exacerbated by a gigantic explosion of chemicals stored in Beirut’s seaport. The middle class has virtually ceased to exist. Educated citizens are fleeing hyperinflation, rising unemployment, power cuts and fuel shortages.
11.10.2023
When Hamas entered Israel on Saturday morning, Charbel’s list of worries grew even longer. Charbel does not want war.
-“Everything has already collapsed in Lebanon. We don’t need a war to not know how to keep living.”
Hezbollah has shelled Israeli positions and announced an incursion into Israel. This is enough to drag the whole of Lebanon into a bloody conflict. Thousands of border residents are being drawn to Beirut. They are fleeing to the north of the country for fear of Israeli retaliation.
This is not Charbel’s war. Lebanese, Christian, ailing, an elderly man. He just needs peace and quiet. He would like to know if he will eat something tomorrow, if he will run out of the medicines he has to take every day. Lebanon is bankrupt. An entire middle class who, earning in Lebanese pounds, has been dragged below the poverty line overnight.
Charbel doesn’t go anywhere. Sometimes he walks around the house. He can’t remember the last time he was in a shop. He doesn’t even look in any because he knows he can’t afford anything. He eats what neighbours and friends donate. The house is not his, but the owner has agreed to let him and his sister live in it.
Dr Harouny has known Charbel for 20 years. He knows that there is no shortage of help for the patient, because without it the man simply cannot cope. The sick and the poor are the first victims of any war.
If with Dr Harouna we do not take care of the most vulnerable today, they may not live to see tomorrow. We encourage you to participate in the Save the Seniors project. Don’t “help”, don’t “support”, don’t “improve quality of life”. Save!!! Today, ailing elderly people in Lebanon need our rescue. If we do not reach out to them, they simply will not manage.
22.01.2024
On Grandma’s Day, our thoughts turn to the elderly women who will receive no flowers today. Perhaps they are forgotten by all. We think of 80-year-old Laudie, a senior living on the outskirts of Byblos, Lebanon. The nuns took her in when she lost everything. No one visits Laudie, even though she devoted her life […]
07.12.2023
“Without your help, life would be unbearable.” “What do you dream about?” “I don’t dream about anything anymore. I don’t want to bother anyone with my dreams. I like to talk to people. I miss my son.” We meet a man in a nursing home on the outskirts of Beirut. His name is Fawzi. He […]
03.11.2023
“No one visits me. Fuel is expensive. They probably have no way to come,” explains the 80-year-old. She very much wants to believe that this is the only reason. She hesitates for a moment. Finally, she shakes her head and pushes away unwanted thoughts. She smiles again. Laudie holds a shoebox in her hand. When […]