First, the criminality… here is just one example of all the corrupt acts taking place in Lebanon for over 30 years without any accountability.
Second, here is a message of life and love in the middle of DEEP sorrow. In the tweet below by journalist Roula Douglas, you can see the father of the little Alexandra (in one of Bambi’s earlier posts). He talked about how criminals wanted to kill love, which will keep prevailing in his family despite the tragedy. He said: “Lixou [his 3-year-old daughter killed in the explosion] is not a *martyr*, she is rather a victim”. Bambi had the exact reaction a couple of days ago, telling herself: Enough of this (stupid) label. People did not chose to die. All they wanted to do was to live. So, stop calling them martyrs… Martyrs of what and of/for whom? Bless Alexandra’s (“Lixou”) dad for saying that “his family’s love will keep going, even if the Lebanese leaders’ criminality was against love“. Bambi can only imagine one drop of the pain of “Lixou’s” mom and dad. She and her spouse had three recurrent miscarriages and their hearts still ache… so imagine when your 3-year-old daughter is injured, suffers for days, and dies!
Finally, to end this post with stories of hope. First, here is a video shared by Mr. Antoine Azar (Bambi’s amazing dad!). It shows the priest of his Saint George church at the moment of the explosion. Thank Goodness the priest’s spouse was just lightly injured and they both survived:
https://m.facebook.com/595486308/posts/10157624300071309/?d=n
In the same spirit but with a message of hope, further below you can watch a BBC News story/interview about Saint Dimitrios church in Beirut. Before this, you can see a picture that Bambi took of this church during her last trip to Lebanon on December, 2019. It is less than 1-2 minutes away, walking distance, from her parents’ place. It is in this magnificent church that all her ancestors are buried.
Below, you can see a short video taken by Bambi in December, 2018:
Despite the UNBELIEVABLE deep sorrow, Bambi is fortunate because her immediate and extended family members in Beirut are not having their funeral services in this church right now (contrary to many others :(). All this despite their injuries, damaged houses, workplaces, healthcare centres, and shared grief.
In the middle of all this suffering, as the priest of Saint Dimitrios church said, one must find hope. Indeed, this is the moving BBC News story mentioned above. It is about a man (the priest) searching for hope…
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-middle-east-53696936/beirut-explosion-video-of-ch
Finally, to those providing hope to families awaiting to find their missing loved ones, thank you whether you are from Lebanon, France, Germany, the Netherlands, England, the USA, etc. To all those helping locally and internationally, including Canada. THANK you. To those who are thanking the rescue teams with drinks and foods (Mary, I am thinking of you), thanks too. Bambi would like to thank every fellow Canadian citizen donating a penny. This is appreciated in any time, imagine during a pandemic. Bambi knows that money does not grow on trees. Too bad that the Lebanese authorities do not have respect for not only their own population but also for all the generous populations of the world. Donations from other governments come from taxpayers, Bambi feels like screaming at them! Enough criminal carelessness and corruption. Enough violence, whether accidental or not. Enough wars. ENOUGH!
