From Britain to Lebanon.

So far I have spent one week in Lebanon as part of European Jesuits in Formation (EJiF).  There are twenty-five Jesuit scholastics here from eighteen countries. Not all are from Europe, one is from Tanzania and another from Vietnam. We are here to witness and learn from the efforts made to serve the refugees in the country. One of the reasons that Lebanon was chosen as the place to meet, was to come face-to-face with the refugee crisis here, where a country of 4 million Lebanese hosts 2 million refugees. Another reason is the experience of the feelings that come with encountering this crisis, the sense of helplessness that we will feel, but in common with one another.

On the 1 August, we all arrived into Beirut International Airport and stayed for next couple of days in a retreat centre near the mountainous Deir-el-Harf. On 3rd August, we visited a series of refugee camps, which held anywhere between 60 to 400 families, in Bar Elias, 2km from the Syrian border. Although each family was living in a tent, they were welcoming and kept the tents clean and tidy. The people had a dignity that was undiminished. We met many people who, with small grants given to them by Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), were able to make a small living from a technical skill, such as sewing or being an electrician.

On Saturday, as shown in the photo, we went to meet the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch, the foremost Christian primate in the country. He talked to us about the situation that the country faces with the influx of refugees and how, just by living in proximity, the Lebanese and refugees are changing each other's lives.

On Sunday, we went to Mass at the Melkite monastery of the Holy Saviour near Sidon. It is the headquarters of Basilian Salvatorian Melkite order. Afterwards, we went to Sidon, the historic city where Jesus preached and saw the remains of the former crusader castle and the oldest surviving mosque in the city. Close to Sidon is a large-scale statue of the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Mantara (also known as Our Lady of Awaiting). It is located there because of the tradition that Mary waited for Jesus in a nearby cave until he left Sidon.

On Monday, we visited the Shatila refugee camp. Although it was the site of a massacre in the Lebanese Civil War, it is still a refugee camp and according to our guide, it has more than 42,000 refugees living in an area less than one square kilometre. To me, it seemed very different to the tents in the Bar Elias refugee camp. It still has a majority of Palestinians, and instead of living in tents, the families live in very cramped high blocks of flats, with no fresh water on tap, and have to pay considerable monthly rents to do so. We chatted with the people and I was not alone in being shocked by the experience.

Today, we visited a school run by the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in Beirut. When it started, JRS planned to have enough classes for 300 boys and girls. However, 800 turned up. This meant that they had to teach 400 in the morning and 400 in the evening. The school is for all faiths. Next to the school is a social centre that gives psychosocial support to the parents of the children. It offers outings so as to break any monotony felt by the refugees as well as social accompaniment and psychological support.

All of these activities are done in the morning, because in the late afternoon we have talks from various Jesuits or university lecturers on the political, social and religious histories of the region, giving a more analytical perspective to the one we found in the mornings.

Over the next few days we will continue visiting refugee camps, witnessing the lives and learning from the people there. Afterwards, we will have an 8-day retreat here in Lebanon, where we will pray on the experiences of the past week. Finally, on the 24 August, we will return to our own countries, no doubt utterly changed by the experience.

Read also Moritz Kuhlmann's overview article Young Jesuits meeting refugees in Lebanon - 
The kind of peace that fills you up with hope (Giuseppe La Mela - Italy, EUM) - 
I am one of the lucky ones (Arnold Mugliett - Malta, EUM)