BEIT MERY, Lebanon — The coronavirus pandemic, which forced a lockdown of nearly all enterprises — except food stores — in Lebanon, has aggravated the country’s severe financial crisis that has resulted in job losses, salary cuts and food price hikes.
Lebanon has declared a COVID-19-related medical state of emergency, which included closing Beirut-Rafik Hariri International Airport, most public institutions and private companies as it looks to rein in the virus outbreak that has claimed 21 lives and infected more than 640 people in the country.
In the absence of a functional state, the Lebanese were already helping each other as they have done many times in wars and crises.
Private initiatives have multiplied to help the most impoverished parts of society, including donating money and distributing food, clothes and medical supplies to those who can no longer afford it.
Scenes of seniors stranded in the streets in a family-oriented society such as Lebanon’s prompted social activist Yara Bou Aoun to concentrate her efforts on the homeless elderly. With other volunteers she arranged a home for them in an old stone house with a garden in the village of Beit Mery in Mount Lebanon that she dubbed “Beit Jdoudna” — “Our Grandfather’s Home.”
“The idea came to me from the elderly whom I have been assisting through my Lifeline association. Every time I asked one of them where you want to stay, he would reply, ‘I’d love to be at home.’ They did not want to stay in shelters or convents,” Bou Aoun said.
“These people had difficult circumstances and downturns in their life or were abandoned by their families. They have the right to a decent and respectable life in their old days. So I decided that we have to make a home for them where they can live as a family,” she said.
Established a year ago, Beit Jdoudna is home for 12 men who had lived on the street, under bridges, in public parks or derelict shelters without doors and windows.
“This is their home now where they are free to do whatever they please without restrictions or rules. It is nice to see them living together like a family, caring for each other and spending time together,” Bou Aoun said.
Backed by donors, volunteers and the village community, Bou Aoun was ensured a decent and comfortable dwelling that is equipped with internet access, television, telephone and furniture.
“People donated everything, beds, carpets, couches, kitchen equipment, et cetera. It was such a great show of solidarity,” Bou Aoun said.
The elders can also enjoy their time “at home” with leisure activities such as farming, drawing, card games, crossword puzzles and books.
Maroun, 81, went to Beit Jdoudna seven months ago after staying for years in a rundown shelter. He became homeless after his stepdaughter-in-law kicked him out.
“Here I feel that I am not in a shelter but in my own home, where I found a new family, and here I am free to go in and out as I please,” he said. “We are well taken care of and they even prepare for us food that we like. It is a blessing after being homeless.”
Khaled Lhaybe, 70, lived for a year in a public garden before he found Beit Jdoudna two months ago. He is a builder by profession, divorced and abandoned by his children.
While he could not find work for years, he collected plastic bottles and tins from rubbish for recycling.
“I used to make 10,000-15,000 Lebanese pounds ($6.60-$9.95) a day to help me survive. In the garden, there were snakes and rats that sometimes ate my provisions,” he said. “Here I have a bed, food and medication. I am still trying to find any work just to keep me busy.”
Bou Aoun, whose home for elderly men is fully funded from donations, is seeking to develop a project for women called “Beit Siti” (“My Grandma’s Home”).
She said she hopes similar homes would be established in all regions of Lebanon “because loneliness is the worst thing that can happen to old people and no elderly should remain homeless.”
The economic crisis in Lebanon that fuelled an anti-government protest movement since October has caused a surge of help by rallying public attention to people’s suffering.
Stores have offered discounts and set up boxes for donations of clothes or money. Television ads urged Lebanese to pack bags of donations instead of suitcases for travel. Another urged Lebanese in the diaspora to return with “medicines, clothes and goodies” to give because “Lebanon needs help.”
The efforts are in part driven by the famed entrepreneurial spirit that helped Lebanese get through numerous previous crises, including a 15-year civil war and several wars with Israel that wrecked the infrastructure and economy.
“We only have each other,” proclaims one campaign hashtag, a snub of the political class and the state.
Samar Kadi is the Arab Weekly society and travel section editor.
Copyright ©2020 The Arab Weekly — distributed by Agence Global
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Released: 23 April 2020
Word Count: 807
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