SAT-7 Grants Coordinator Phil Good lives in East Beirut. In this personal blog, he shares how Lebanon’s economic collapse has added an older generation of poorer Lebanese to a church that has already welcomed hundreds of Syrian refugees. What should a church look like? I guess a church is situated in a location and should be a reflection of the […]
I have just returned from Beirut, Lebanon. With the elections looming this weekend, the city is plastered with banners and posters of the different political parties, their colours and slogans on massive billboards along the highways. This is the first election since the Port explosion in Beirut on 4 August 2020. The government resigned following the explosion but have remained […]
As the one year anniversary of the catastrophic explosion at the Beirut Port approaches, SAT-7’s Beirut-based Communications Officer Maria Al Khoury shares her experience of the blast, how the country has seen no let-up in suffering and crisis – and what the country needs more than ever, is hope. I can’t feel anything. What happened? In just a moment, everything […]
I first met Abou Younes* when he came along to the Life Center Beirut looking for help with food. His journey to Beirut had begun with a harrowing escape from Daesh/Islamic State and involved selling the last of his possessions to pay a smuggler to take his large family across the Syrian border into Lebanon. They just had the […]
There are only a few people that have the “it” factor. “It” being a characteristic that destines one for great things; sometimes as big as changing the world! To me, 12-year old Mahala* is one of those people. I first saw Mahala confidently marching to the podium of my church in Beirut. With perfect poise, she gave a 10-minute sermon […]
Contrary to popular belief, the Middle East is far more than sandy desert. Countries all across the Levant and North Africa have beautiful mountains and even snowy winters. Lebanon is one of the best Arab countries to visit during winter because of its unusual climate. The winters come with lots of rain and occasional storms that blanket Lebanon’s mountains – […]
An accidental faux pas sometimes teaches you a lot about a culture. On this occasion it was a warning from a Lebanese friend that saved me – a Lebanese American living in Beirut – from breaking convention. What crime against custom had I been about to commit? Simply, I was planning to wear my very Californian flip flops in public. […]
Well of course a man should beat his wife if she cheats on him!” It has been three years since my friend made that comment with a laugh, as I stared at her with a stunned expression, and yet I still remember it clearly. It was the first time since coming to Lebanon that I realised the depth of the […]
As I mentioned in my previous post, materialism plays a heavy role in Lebanese society. Here, “keeping up with the Joneses” takes on an entirely new dimension. Appearance is important; your reputation is everything. Wedding on the Beirut corniche (cwirtanen/Flickr Commons) Lebanese women are famous for being beautiful. A few years back, when I told a taxi driver in Cairo […]
I have lived in Lebanon for almost three years yet I still feel I am discovering new things every day. This morning I took a different route to church suggested by my friend and we drove by an ancient Roman aqueduct, built into the cliffs rising above Beirut centuries upon centuries ago. Only five minutes from my apartment and I […]
