“Lebanon: Bible Society makes the most of a cease-fire”
LEBANON — Two weeks ago (August 20 – 25), as a fragile cease-fire held, staff of the Bible Society in Lebanon offered thanks to God and quickly distributed as many relief packages as they could to the devastated villages of south Lebanon. Mike Bassous, General Secretary of the Society, kept a diary of the week’s work…
Sunday
It is now almost a week since the cease-fire came into effect. Last night, there was a serious breach of the ‘peace’ as Israeli commandos, deployed by helicopters near the ancient Roman city of Baalback, deep in the Bekaa valley, conducted some undisclosed manoeuvres. Fortunately, the situation did not get any worse and Christians went to church this morning to worship God and thank him for the first peaceful Sunday of the past few weeks.
Monday
Since most of the displaced families are attempting to return to their home villages, our team load the two vans with relief packages and head to south Lebanon to distribute them in the devastated communities. The mixed residents, Muslims and Christians, welcome the team warmly. Our staff go from door to door distributing the relief packages in Izzeh, Khzeiz, and the surrounding villages. It is a very encouraging field trip indeed. The Bible Society is among the first Christian charities to visit these people.
Tuesday
The roads into south Lebanon are now being cleared, new, temporary bridges are being installed over the rivers and more and more displaced families are heading back to their villages. However, with the exception of a daily flight between Beirut and Amman [Jordan], the siege by sea and air is still in force. Rumours of a petrol shortage are causing people to panic again; in spite of official affirmations that the supply is sufficient, they are forming queues in front of petrol stations.Our team manages to distribute a van full of relief packages in Sidon.
Wednesday
Our weekly staff devotions this morning includes a sharing of testimonies and stories of our ‘Relief and Scriptures’ distribution. Our Christian resource center, Books for Life, has distributed more than 100 packages through its members, which has prompted many new people to become members! About 50 children visit our Bible World exhibition today as part of the camp activity organised for them by a partner agency. Their excited noise fills the Bible Society Center!
Thursday
Today is scheduled for the preparation of new relief packages. About 15 staff members are joined by six volunteers and together they form an assembly line in our warehouse, packing rice, lentils and sugar into separate bags, and colouring books, crayons, a New Testament and three Scripture Portions into another. The bags, together with a blanket, medicines and several items of food, go into boxes – 500 in all, each carrying the Bible Society’s name. The work is tedious and takes about six hours to complete in Lebanon’s hot summer weather.
Friday
Today we make a new distribution trip to the south of the country. About 100 boxes are distributed in Tyre, through the Maronite and Greek-Catholic (Melkite) dioceses of Tyre. The two bishops are surprised to see us reach the ancient city and are very appreciative of our efforts. Crossing the Litani River to get to Tyre is a challenge, as all the bridges connecting Lebanon to its southern region have been blown up. This part of the country has suffered immensely: the city of Tyre will be the hub of our ‘Relief and Scriptures’ program for the next few weeks.
Story courtesy United Bible Societies, LATEST NEWS # 367, September 6, 2006
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Please note that the views expressed in this story are not necessarily the views of the American Bible Society. Story posted on September 6th, 2006 and filed under ABS Stories, United Bible Societies.
