Author: Bambi

Some people are excited by the number of women in this new Government (6 out of 20). Some may even say, men or women, these are new faces; at least with expertise in their fields.

More specifically, one can think: Wow, kudos to Lebanon for nominating a woman as the Minister of Defence and Deputy Prime Minister. Well, Bambi did not think so. She was rather curious to see whom got this position. She found her bio online, which reads as follows ( https://information-international.com/page/37/founders):

“Mrs. Zeina Adra has more than 20 years of practical, management and research experience. As a Partner and Executive Director for Information International, Ms. Adra leads the Beirut-based research and consultancy firm in survey research, database collection and analysis of projects for the Arab World and the Near East in the areas of health, education, agriculture, infrastructure facilities and demographic and socio-economic studies (including project evaluation and impact assessment).

In addition to working with Information International, Mrs. Adra is Founder and Program Director of the Social and Cultural Development Association (INMA), a non-profit, non-governmental organization that services clusters of villages and specific neighborhoods throughout Lebanon. For INMA, Mrs. Adra directs national, sustainable projects in tourism and agriculture that focus on health, education, environment, cultural and income generating activities.

Mrs. Adra has significant experience working on international development and donor-funded projects, through which she has conducted needs assessment, reviews of literature, qualitative and quantitative studies, structured questionnaires for surveys based on random sampling, field visits, training and supervising of field surveyors, analysis of data and preparation of reports. She has also established and maintained close contacts with international donors, NGOs and UN agencies, local banks, financial institutions, auditors and Government of Lebanon ministries and local municipalities, which provide her with the ability to coordinate and meet with key stakeholders and city officials throughout Lebanon.

Mrs. Adra has participated in trainings at a number of workshops and symposiums, including (but not limited to) the Credit-Finance Workshop in Amman, Jordan, the International NGO Working Group on Refugee Women in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, the Micro-enterprise Credit Workshop in Beirut, Lebanon, the Food Commodity Workshop for USAID-Washington in Washington DC/Idaho and the Management/Strategic Planning Workshop in Cairo, Egypt. Mrs. Adra has also participated in numerous tourism and agricultural exhibitions in Lebanon and abroad including New York Fancy Food Show, ANUGA, Horeca, Garden Show and others.

Mrs. Adra holds a BS degree in Social Sciences in Marketing/Management from the Lebanese American University (formerly known as Beirut University College)”.

End of the biography. Bravo to Ms. Adra for her interesting professional journey.

However, with all due respect to her professional skills and/or potential to learn, her training and expertise has NOTHING to do with “defence” :). So, why was she nominated for such a key and prestigious position, along with the role of deputy Prime Minister?

Could it be for ties to the President of the country, to the Prime Minister maybe, and… thus indirectly (or directly?) to the Hezbollah?

Mind you, with her professional background, she could have perhaps contributed to another ministry, no?

Anyhow, maybe Bambi is wrong in her non-expert analysis. Maybe this lady will excel in her job, if we give her and Lebanon a chance?

Best wishes!

Tragically, Lebanon lags behind both Saudi Arabia and Iran when it comes to women’s rights (what a shame ☹). Indeed, up until now, Lebanese women cannot pass their citizenship to their children; only Lebanese men can do so.

The discriminatory bill in question affects women married to “foreigners”, their children, and the spouses. Indeed, the bill affects crucial life aspects, including legal residency, access to health care, to education, and to work (e.g., professional associations, etc.). Most dramatically, it puts children at risk of stateless, as described in this video by “Human Rights Watch”:

To give a concrete example, one among many other tragedies, Bambi would like to share the following story:

When she recently visited Lebanon, she enjoyed watching TV with her parents. They once watched a very moving documentary on the MTV channel about a man, called Mr. Haig Manjourian (https://www.mtv.com.lb/vod/ar/program/814).

Mr. Manjourian was born to a Lebanese mother and an Armenian father who held the Syrian citizenship.

Because Lebanese women cannot transmit their citizenship to their children, Mr. Manjourian became stateless.

Mr. Manjourian has three older siblings, two sisters and a brother.

After the death of his father when he was 12 years old, hid mom sent him to the Mekhitarist Armenian monastery to become a monk.

Following this stage of his life, he travelled to Rome, to study theology in order to become a priest. However, in order to able to travel, he used a fake passport. To do so, he used the name of “Tony Chehade Iskandar”.

Between the years 1984 and 1989, he lived in a monastery in Venice. He used to send letters to his mom on a regular basis.

After visiting his family in 1990, he  returned to Rome. He was never heard from to this day, that is for 30 years.

Many of his relatives suspected his death. Only his mom kept praying and hoping to see her son one day.

In their moments of hope of finding him alive after all these years, his family was literally paralyzed by the fear of asking the Italian authorities about him (as he was living under a fake identity).

They only had his last mailing address in a small suburb of Rome. They had the idea of reaching out to the MTV channel.

A small team from the MTV met with the whole family and travelled from Beirut to Italy. They tried to find this lost adult son through a good Italian priest who seemed to have protected him during his early years in the monastery in Venice. We later learned that he ended up leaving the monastery. He then lived not too far away from Rome. The priest kept checking on him from time to time and made sure he was safe and sound. He then lost his contact, if Bambi recalls the story well.

The MTV team then thought of reaching out to the (now former) Lebanon’s Ambassador in Rome. This diplomat seemed like a competent and compassionate lady. She could not provide any information for confidentiality reasons. However, she somehow kindly and indirectly guided them to a third party who successfully assisted them.

The MTV crew ended up finding him. The moving story is that one day upon returning from Beirut in 1990, he had a car accident… and lost his memory.

They met with him more than once. They even brought him items to facilitate the recovery of his long-term memory (pictures of his family, a backgammon game he liked to play with his grand-father, etc.).

They returned to his village in Lebanon with members of the Red cross to make sure his elderly mother (recovering from an open heart surgery), and everyone else, would be safe whilst watching the moving video featuring him.

The MTV even arranged a trip to Italy for his mom and siblings who finally managed to get passports from Armenia (minus his brother who could not travel because he was stateless too, ironically in his own country). They consulted with two physicians who both gave his mom the green light to travel.

The end of the documentary was SO moving beyond words. Indeed, what a beautiful moment to see him hugging his mom and siblings. Even the kind Italian priest also joined the family reunion. Everyone was grateful for all what he did.

Interestingly, the priest described this family saga as the “story of the prodigal son” (one of the parables of Jesus in the Bible).

Currently, it seems that Mr. Manjourian, has applied for the Italian citizenship, along with the Lebanese one. Will he get the Lebanese citizenship, knowing that the regressive discriminatory bill is still in effect?

Needless to say that Bambi cried liked a “human baby” whilst watching this documentary, especially the last happy scene of the mother finally united with her son, after three decades. What a LONG time.

To conclude this post, as the Lebanese Ambassador said in the documentary, no child should suffer like Mr. Manjourian did, along with his family. Indeed, it is Bambi’s hope that Lebanon will know how to respect and honour ALL his children and citizens.

Before going to bed, Bambi would like to quickly comment on similar articles she read in both English and French:

CTV news (English):

https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/canadian-airlines-feel-the-pressure-of-flight-shaming-and-the-greta-effect-1.4774118

Globe and Mail (English):

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-canadian-airlines-feel-the-pressure-of-flight-shaming-and-the-greta-2/

La Presse (French):

https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/environnement/202001/19/01-5257440-la-honte-du-vol-une-tendance-prise-en-compte-par-les-compagnies-aeriennes.php

Bambi has trouble imagining Canadians flying South to escape our harsh winter feeling ashamed to do so ?.

Anyhow, “Flygskam” (Swedish for “flight shame”) was surely the last thing on her own mind when she flew over three continents last December to see her family! On the contrary, Bambi felt grateful to have the chance to jump to Lebanon (and come back safe… in the hope of flying there again as soon as possible).

Of note, in an earlier post, she reported feeling somehow sad for Greta for missing out on the pleasures of flying in life (http://bambisafkar.ca/index.php/2020/01/03/a-friendly-wink-to-greta-t-even-if-the-middle-easts-problems-are-more-imminent-than-plastic-or-oil-gas/).

In Bambi’s opinion, what should matter to Canadian consumers more than “Flygskam” must be the sky-high prices of flying in our country.

Indeed, why is it so expensive to fly in Canada, Bambi has always wondered? This does not make any common sense. Why do we accept this as a society?

For example, it is not normal to pay more on flight connections from Moncton to Toronto than from a Canadian city to Europe OR within Europe OR even from Europe to the Middle East.

There has been an informative article on a news blogs in August, 2019 (https://www.mtlblog.com/news/canada/this-is-why-its-so-expensive-to-fly-in-canada) about the reasons for this absurd reality, with a powerful reflection by Dr. Gabor Lukacs and Mr. Massimo Bergamini: Is this due to high airport taxes? To too much “connections” between our federal government and the aviation industry? Or to rather the oligopoly of our aviation industry (Air Canada and WestJet)?

In a large country like Canada, citizens fly within the country, or abroad, for reasons related to business, family, or simply for tourism/pleasure. Many more Canadians would have loved to fly. “Flygskam” is not the barrier to their transportation. It is rather those absurdly high prices.

It is hard to imagine how such high prices can facilitate our economy. They may also prevent people from remaining connected to their loved ones.

The articles above inform us that European airlines “turn to carbon offsets, where they invest in projects such as wind farms and tree planting to compensate for plane-produced carbon dioxide”. This is noble, especially tree planting as it can reduce the risk of flooding.

To conclude this post, good for Greta if she feels better in life by not flying… Bambi just wonders how she feels about the 1000 private jets into Davos 2020 (World Economic Forum). Will these private jet flights carry participants suffering from acute “Flygskam” ??

VERY shocking news from Beirut. Bambi has no comment to add about this news documentary from France 24. It sadly speaks for itself…

One thing is sure: What is unfolding in Lebanon is such a contrast with the peaceful snowy Sunday in Sackville today. Bambi hopes that everyone will be safe in the storms, both here and there.

Bambi is far from being an expert in Lebanese politics. This being said, in her mind, this situation is not surprising. As it is well described by Mr. Ben Wedeman, it is due to many factors, including Lebanon’s political: (1) failed sectarian (or religious-based) system; (2) corruption; and (3) incompetence (in addressing the economic crisis). To this list, Bambi will add the following factor (4): arrogance, a clever term used by her mom during one of their recent conversations.

In a single word, the situation is a “fiasco” :(. Indeed, whilst watching the CNN video above, Bambi could not help not to think of an earlier post entitled ““Lebanon cannot govern itself: Could placing it again under French Mandate help protect it?” (Reflections by Ms. Aline A.)“.

Perhaps after a good night of sleep, Bambi will find her natural optimism again. She will remind herself of the following: Lebanon has always survived… Beirut will rise again in the end, just like the phoenix bird, which is its symbol. Best wishes to the land of the Cedars in those critical times!

Franceinfo (French content): “Lebanon is *practically* gone bankrupt. The population cannot take it anymore” (Interview with Dr. Joseph Bahout, researcher at the Carnegie Foundation in Washington, USA).

France24 (English content): “Over one hundred people detained in Lebanese protests”. “Lebanon has been swept by a wave of protests aimed at the country’s elite that prompted Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri to resign on Oct. 29, pushing the country deeper into economic crisis and frustration. Emerald Maxwell has the latest”.

Today, Bambi woke up in Halifax. She voluntary began her day at 5 AM ?. She woke up that early to get ready for breakfast at her hotel at 6 AM. Crazy? Likely. For her, food is more important than sleep, contrary to her spouse’s preference. Of course, he teased her about it all day long!

Anyhow, at 7:30 AM they left the hotel to her dental appointment (to complete a root canal treatment). Less than two hours later, they were done and ready to take the bus back to Sackville. With all the freezing effect, she surely felt (and looked!) funny.   

Whilst waiting for her spouse (purchasing something), she bumped into a man with whom she exchanged polite hellos. This stranger walked a few steps forward then he made steps backward toward Bambi, asking her: “You look happy, are you happy”? She replied: “Ya, I think I am. I just finished a dental appointment”. She then added “What about you Sir? I hope you are happy too [fiou, he was, it seems ?]. Anyhow, may you have a happy day and year!”.

This amusing exchange with this stranger proved to Bambi, what she already knew well: how adorable the Maritimers are, even in a large city like Halifax. Indeed, people take the time not only to greet each other but also to chat in a friendly way.   

Perhaps this man felt a bit lonely today? Who knows? Maybe this is why he was friendly with Bambi (a strange deer from a different province). Perhaps he was simply genuine about his comment? Could it be? Despite her funny face at the time, she may have exuded happiness for real.

Indeed, she had more than a reason to be happy today. In addition to being able to move on with her life (closure after a dental abscess saga), she spent a fun time chatting with her dad (whilst eating that copious early breakfast in the picture above).

Today is the eve of Saint Anthony’ Day; a significant family event of a year. “Antoine” (or “Tony” for closed ones) is the name of her dad. This means he is celebrating his name day. It is a big family tradition where every year all the relatives come to visit her parents and enjoy her mom’s delicious food! The funniest thing is that “Anthony” or “Tony” or “Antoine” or “Tannios” are variants of the same male name. Bambi has an uncle (brother-in-law of her dad), 2 cousins in Beirut,1 cousin in Montréal, and the son of a cousin on the other side of the family called “Tony” ?! Of course, she made sure to contact them all (oh, she should not forget to email “Antoinette”, a family friend in Montréal).

May the joy of family reunions keep making everyone happy, whether they live nearby or feel connected across the miles.

Thank you Saint Anthony for offering Bambi’s family the opportunity to celebrate a sort of a second Christmas within 3 weeks from the first. Most importantly, thank you for protecting her dad.  

To conclude this post, it is well known in Lebanon that we can ask for Saint Anthony’s help when we lose important items. Let’s hope the Lebanese politicians will find all the “lost” funds so prosperity can find its way back into people’s lives and pockets. Until then, happy name day to all the “Tonys” of the world, including one she knows here in Sackville ?!   

Bambi discovered this song whilst visiting Beirut in December. It seems that it naturally became one of the songs of the Lebanese revolution, although it is an older one written in a different time and context.

Is the current context that different from the earlier one(s)? Maybe but in as much as a context can be different when history tends to repeat itself, sometimes endlessly. This happens especially when people do not seem to learn valuable lessons from their rich history.

Anyhow, an amusing story about the famous singer (video above), Mr. Rabih El Khawli, is that he became a priest it seems. Yes, this rather handsome former artist turned his back to his artistic success and international career. It seems that he found his inner happiness in his faith during a personal spiritual journey, after the tragic death of his brother in a motorcycle accident. Good for him for his new life, if he is happier. Bambi is grateful for this beautiful song.  

Here is an English translation of the lyrics:

“Revolt for once, revolt” (title)

You who were waiting, what are you waiting for? What do you expect from those who stole the sunshine and sold the wind, along with their conscience? From those who stole the country and built houses larger than its squares?

You who were waiting, what are you waiting for?

Revolt for once. Stand up in those squares and tell them: You have stolen, you have killed, yes you have assassinated the people, the country, and the dream…. And you turned this land into a refuge for the Pharisees (or self-righteous)”.

Today, the Lebanese population went down to the streets again, calling for a “week of wrath” (“semaine de la colère”). After over 90 days of revolt, their politicians are still stuck at square one, with no government. They are simply demanding: (1) the formation of a government, that is independent of them, AND (2) new parliamentary elections.  

Of course, some would say that the first demand may be too idealistic in a country known for sectarian politics. Maybe but how do you solve this issue of this increasingly severe economic crisis, disconnected politicians, and the resulting distrust of a nation?

Anyhow, Bambi’s heart goes to the people of Lebanon today more than ever, hoping that the dark days will end and the sun (of hope) will shine again!

P.S: This post was written by Bambi on Tuesday, November 19, 2019 before a trip to the Middle East and before the latest development in the area. As she got too busy, she did not have the time to post it. Thus, it is only being posted now as it is, that is without any editing.

The post begins below:

A few weeks ago, Bambi came across a picture from the South border of Lebanon, similar to the one below. Next to the Lebanese beautiful flag (that looks like the Canadian flag to a great extent), we can see the yellow flag of the Hezbollah party:

Why is that still the case, even after 19-20 years since the end of a 20-year-Israeli occupation?

In any sovereign country, the only flag that tourists, migrants, and/or enemies should see must be the official flag of a country. The latter usually has a single army.  

Bambi is not an expert of Lebanese political parties. She knows that there are too many of them, from the left to the right wings. There are even some parties that have an ecological platform, including a green party. Nevertheless, there are two of them that are the strongest (Hezbollah and one allied to it) and maybe a third closed to the Hezbollah as well.

To come back to the yellow flag of the Hezbollah, the latter literally means “God’s party”. Do you see the irony that Bambi sees? In her mind, God is all about love, forgiveness, kindness, and peace. It is surely not about rifles and weapons.

Even resistances, they do not have to take a violent form all the time and endlessly. They can take all sorts of forms, from poetry to arts, from pacific actions to deep reflections. We have all resisted in our own ways to this or that injustice. We even resist to collective stupidity sometimes.

Anyhow to come back to the Hezbollah flag, a Wikipedia page describes it as follows:

“The first letter of “Allah” reaches up to grasp an assault rifle, which has elements of the H&K G3 battle rifle and the AK-47 assault rifle combined. The logo also incorporates several items, includingy a globe, a book, a sword, and a seven-leafed branch. The text above the logo reads فإن حزب الله هم الغالبون fa-inna ḥizbu llāh hum al-ġālibūn) and means “Then surely the party of God are they that shall be triumphant” (taken from the Quran), which is a reference to the name of the party. Underneath the logo are the words المقاومة الإسلامية في لبنان al-muqāwamah al-islāmīyah fī lubnān, meaning “The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon”.

The Wikipedia page continues: “The flag was designed by Mr. Ali Salih who is an artist from Brital, with the assistance of Mr. Abdul ar-Rahman Mazlūm from the same village. The flag has some similarity with the emblem of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard”.

Two questions beg each other here: 1. Who said that God needs a party, a heavily armed one on top of that? And 2. Why would a so-called resistance have to be just Muslim or…rather Islamic? How about Lebanese for a change? How about the country’s own army? An army that is as diverse as Lebanon?

Bambi asks these questions, knowing that there is a risk in doing so. People can be too narrow-minded sometimes. You criticize an entity like Hezbollah. So, you must be fond of Israel then. A bit like when we used to criticize the Israeli occupation, someone could say to us, well you prefer the Syrian occupation, don’t you? Or you criticize the latter, then you prefer the former. We criticize Iran, so we are fond of Saudi Arabia or vice versa.

The truth of the matter is that we can love all the above. At the same time, we can dislike them all, for almost the same EXACT reasons: Extremism breeds extremism. Often, these entities project their hate onto each other. Usually, innocent populations (here and there) suffer from extremism.

Another milder example may be: You love Canada so you cannot love Lebanon or vice versa. You love your mom. So, you do not like your dad. You like Montréal, so how can you love Toronto at the same time ?? Or both Montréal and Québec City? Well, Bambi loves all Canada at once from Coast to Coast to Coast, including Sackville.

To come back to the picture above, with all due respect to all the political parties of the world, that is including the political wing of the Hezbollah (despite the weird name of the latter), Bambi thinks the following: Only one flag should be flying above the Lebanese nation and its borders, from the North to the South to the East (the beautiful Mediterranean sea is to the West side). Yes, the Lebanese flag ONLY.