From Despair to Hope

Day 2 Journal by Sandy Messick

Our second day in Beirut was a study in contrasts...from despair to hope, from the fruits of war to the longing for peace.
First thing after breakfast we were met by Mrs. Sylvia Haddad from the Department of Service for Palestinian Refugees (DSPR). She showed us around two of the 11 Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, Sabra and Shatilla. The latter was the sight of the massacre in 1982 that left 1500 Palestinians dead. Two memorials stand in remembrance. The first marks the resting place of the 800 victims that could be identified. The second, an open grassy field, marks the mass grave where the rest are buried. Neither Sabra or Shatilla should rightly be defined as camps. The word “camp” implies impermanence, yet these settlements have existed for more than 60 years now and the hope for a life beyond the boundaries grows more dim with each passing generation. In Shatilla, plumbing and electrical wires hang jumbled together above the narrow passageways. Work is now being done to build the infrastructure for this community but it comes with mixed feelings: It will improve life for the residents, but also indicates a permanent status and that leads to despair.
In the afternoon we visited a Chaldean church providing food for Iraqi refugees. Scores of people lined up to receive boxes of food and supplies. We heard first hand the heart breaking stories of three Christian families, all with young children, who were forced to flee Iraq. Like the Palestinian refugees, they left behind homes and possessions but unlike the Palestinian refugees, they do not hope to return. As one said, “It is too dangerous,” and they do not see hope for a stable society there. There are some 8,000 Chaldean Iraqi refugees in Lebanon and 15-20 more arrive each week. It was easy to see despair.
But in the midst of despair, God provides hope, and that hope was also easy to see. Hope was in the faces of the children in the kindergarten run by the DSPR as they sang “The Wheels on the Bus” in Arabic. It was in the faces of the young women as they learned to style hair and in the young men training in computer and electronics, and in the older women as they learned to read and write. Hope was found in the three young adults, two Christian and one Muslim, giving their time and talent in the pursuit of peace through the Forum for Development, Culture and Dialogue (FDCD) as they provide Youth Exchange opportunities for Lebanese and Iraqi youth and conflict resolution training for young adults and programs to teach young journalists how to be self-critical about their own bias in how events are reported. It was found in the Peace Camps also offered by the FDCD that bring youth from around the world to build relationships and teach about human rights, and in the Women's Project that brings together women from other countries to discuss their role in Christian-Muslim dialogue. Hope is found in the Medical Center being built to serve Iraqi refugees and others in need, and in the commitment of the Arab Group for Christian-Muslim Dialogue to continue to engage each other in the challenging work of communicating through conflict. Hope was found in knowing that some of these are supported by Week of Compassion and Church World Service and all are our mission partners through Global Ministries. And hope is found in the recognition that we are interconnected. As one member of the AGCMD panel said, “Your salvation is in us, and our salvation is in you.”
It was a long day, and a difficult one in many ways, but in the end....there is hope. In this Advent season may we cling to that most precious gift...the power to hope.