Beirut Compassion Fund - June 2021 Update
A team from The Outreach Foundation (Jack Baca, Julie Burgess, Mark Mueller, Nuhad Tomeh, Marilyn Borst) just returned from a 2-week journey to Lebanon, our first post-pandemic trip. We traveled to encourage our partners there who have been through so much over the past 19 months: a collapse of their government and the economy; the pandemic and its necessary lockdowns; the cataclysmic explosion in the port of Beirut on August 4th which left over 200 dead, 6,500 injured and 300,000 homeless. After the explosion, thanks to our generous donors, we were able to wire funds to the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon within 48 hours and they began handing out food vouchers to residents near the port. Their outreach soon “morphed” to assist families in making repairs to flats and apartments in densely populated neighborhoods within a mile of the port. We were blessed to visit with several of those families….
The brand new door was ajar and awaiting our arrival (the old door had been blown away by the explosion in the port). We caught a glimpse of a picture of Jesus on the wall within and noticed a sign on the door. It announced that tailoring services could be found here, and soon we would meet that tailor/seamstress, Jacqueline, who lived here with her special needs sister, Lodi.
We had come here with partners from the Synod who work for the Compassion Protestant Society (CPS), the Synod’s diaconal/outreach arm. I had met Joyce Sakr over Zoom but this was my first encounter with CPS’s new Executive Director, Fadi Riachi. Both combined caring and competence in equal measures, and as we walked the street where the nearby blast had crumbled building facades and left a “carpet” of glass inches thick, I was grateful that Outreach had joined with this ministry, within days of the explosion, to provide resources for needier families to begin repairs in their humble homes.
As we squeezed into the sisters’ tiny home, the diminutive ladies found a place for each of their guests to perch and then told us a bit of their story. Lodi had been in the apartment when the explosion occurred, as glass shattered into the small rooms and door frames burst into pieces, but Jacqueline was in the elevator which went dark and dropped several feet. As they recalled the event, all these months later, you could tell that it had been a terrifying experience – but they were adamant in their assertions that God had surely preserved them.
They were proud to show us the rest of their flat: a compact kitchen, chock-a-block with food items and dishes, a minuscule bathroom (closet?) behind a bi-fold door, and their bedroom (they share a bunk bed and I wondered which one of these not-so-spry ladies has to clamor up the ladder, which leans against the bed frame, to get on the top.)
The bedroom doubles as Jacqueline’s workspace. She showed us how a rough sheet of plywood is placed over a small table for laying out fabric. Hanging from the walls around her ancient sewing machine were garments in process, including a clerical robe for a local priest. Their hardscrabble lives are still being put back together: clothing is stacked on a tiny balcony outside and early repairs, done by sloppy workers, are being redone.
We gave them a small cross and gathered them in tight hugs as we prayed. As I left, I lifted my own prayer to our God who is able “to make all things new.” He is the Great Tailor, who can stitch back together the lives of these two faithful sisters. And may He do it for this broken and battered country, as well...
Marilyn Borst
Associate Director for Partnership Development
THE NEED
Make a gift to the Beirut Compassion Fund HERE or by sending a check to our office.