So far behind but let us catch up on one of the weeks !
What an amazing week we have had in service!
Busy as always with service – we are back to our beauty sessions in DEQ – hand care was key this week – warm water, soap, massage, moisturiser, nail polish and of course ktiir helou! Tuesday saw us celebrate Johanna birthday in Deir El Salib, Jo accepted the offer to celebrate / share her birthday with one of the boys – some songs, a lovely cake and Caravan dancing = a great celebration. That evening we visited a restaurant in the mountains for open Lebanese food and open arak in Bickfaya. The setting, good friends, positive atmosphere and Lebanese music made the night a success. Wednesday saw us back in Deir El Salib with Juan Alejandro Magaz.Juan is in Lebanon organising a very interesting conference that I will tell you about later . He has been to Chabrouh many times and knows the boys very well. We were delighted to bring Juan back to the boys in Deir El Salib; it was a very pleasant afternoon indeed. On Thursday, we had Antellias. Again a music round is always the opening with some of our favourite songs. We then did a photo session – the boys absolutely loved it ( bar one or two – Suzy and the caretaker had to coax one boy with a cigarette and better still when he realised that two photos were taken he needed a second cigarette ) . The boys’ laughter and smiles filled the air and many came back repeatedly for their photos, they really enjoyed looking at themselves on the camera. We can’t wait to print the pictures so the boys can look at themselves further. We cannot express our thanks and gratitude enough to the sisters, the caretakers and the boys and girls for allowing us play a part in their lives – we appreciate you!
We are also attending university, this week we had four mornings, one was our final lecture on Politics and modern history in Lebanon, and we then spent three mornings learning about Christianity. We feel blessed to be allowed attend university although the challenge of rising at 7am every morning is difficult.
On Thursday night, we where lucky to be invited out with one of our dear CARAVAN friends Sheik Walid. As always Sheik Walid insight and conversation truly keeps us all fascinated. The different topics are of such interest to us all and we enjoy spending time with Sheik Walid immensely. Sheik Walid also invited the Hospitaller Paul to be with us, the insights we received from Paul about the history of some of the community projects was powerful and thought provoking. – In taking something from Paul, I was reminded of a quote about overcoming adversity ‘Do not fear the winds of adversity. Remember: A kite rises against the wind rather than with it.’ Many of the projects where developed during a time of turmoil and we can see that hard work, dedication and a will for change that made these projects the success they are today.
As some of you heard, a certain team leader (cough cough no names) is on the verge of freaking out due to the discovery of Cyril the cockroach and Rodney the rat. This is the one millionth time they have taken residence in Naccache, unfortunately our house is clean and we have had poison laid long term and yet they take refuge. The same person is real grumpy right now about the lack of refrigerator – as you know from a previous blog the fridge is an ongoing issue for us and the balcony is just not sufficiently cold enough to keep the food fresh. Poor Michel is working tirelessly but fridge men are not into working as hard as Michel !
Saturday saw some of the team skiing and others chilling in the apartment or venturing to Jel El Dib for coffee. In the evening Louis Cardahi had invited us for dinner in his place in Byblos – Lucas and Moritz went as some of the team where exhausted or indeed suffering with a minor cold . We thank Louis for his hospitality to Caravan and we all look forward to the next party.
Another update about the conference we attended and many other cool and unique events will follow shortly . For now Good night our readers
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