A Visit to the Land of the Dead Sea

October 2, 2006. After a very busy five weeks in Lebanon, I managed to take off a couple of days to visit Harissa, about 30 minutes north of Beirut and Byblos, which is roughly another hour north and is said to date back to 7,000 B.C.!






















After arriving in Amman, Jordan after a very busy five weeks in Lebanon, I went straight to our office and met some colleagues, who have been incredibly hospitable and helpful with everything. I also got a chance to meet with Hameed, who is the Program Manager for our Humanitarian Assistance program in Northern Iraq. He also decided to discuss a GANTT chart for his new exercise regime, which I found quite amusing. Over the last few days, I got the opportunity to relax and do a bit of sightseeing before heading back to DC. This country’s history is incredibly rich, and the visits around Amman and to Jerash, Petra, and the Dead Sea were out of this world! Here are a few photos.

Visit to the Southern Villages

September 19, 2006. Exactly a week ago, Mike and I finally made it down to the South to witness the destruction first hand. Jihad, our driver, drove us to several of the villages that we hope to work in to meet with the municipality leaders and representatives of the Ministry of Energy and Water to obtain the most current information available detailing the water/sanitation needs. We visited each of the proposed villages to ensure that the information collected in the offices was consistent with the field needs and assessment.

The entire day was a very surreal experience, as we were finally at the heart of this country, away from the hustle and bustle and modernity of Beirut and in rural, traditional Lebanon. The south enjoys a very beautiful terrain that is primarily devoted to the agriculture sector. In nearly every village we visited, construction and rebuilding efforts had already begun under local leadership, and it was very clear that the people have suffered this havoc far too many times. The ability to get back up on their feet and immediately deal with their needs demonstrated a resiliency that reminds me very much of the Tamils in the Northeast of Sri Lanka. It was very difficult visiting some of the sites of previous carnage, particularly those where the last Israeli attacks occurred. The grave sites still remain. I will never forget this experience.

We found out that one of the proposals we submitted has been awarded funding from the donor. Under the Lebanon Emergency Relief and Employment program, we will be providing farmers vouchers to restock on the required seeds and tools to jumpstart agriculture activities and provide mirco and small enterprises micro-grants to replenish their inventories and restart business in order to support immediate income generation. The next couple of weeks will be primarily dedicated to setting up this program, ironing out the methodology for implementing the proposed activities, and completing the recruitment of staff before I head to our Jordan office.

Relief Efforts in Lebanon Continue

September 10, 2006. The past few days have been quite tumultuous and the effects of war will definitely be felt here for some time to come. Weddings have re-started in Beirut despite the devastation, and when fireworks are set off in celebration, the city still trembles from the trauma of the low-flying Israeli aircrafts and bombs used to terrorize civilians in the dead of night. Some of the devastation is from wars gone, while the rest is an outcome of the recent war. It’s hard to tell the difference sometimes. Downtown Beirut, which has been renovated and modernized since the last civil war is slowly reviving life, but the clock tower in Nejmeh Square now serves as a memorial for those women and children who lost their lives during the bombing campaign in the South, particularly Qana. Medics are now claiming that chemical weapons must certainly have been used based on the unusual burn cases that have resulted in many of the deaths.

Mike, Adam, and I have been regularly attending the UNICEF water and sanitation cluster group meetings and finally met with the coordinator earlier this week. He was quite impressed with our concept, as IRD is the only NGO proposing to engage in pipe repairs in the targeted villages. He did, however, request that IRD provide him with more details regarding specific locations where we intend to implement the repairs, the extent of the repairs, approximate length of the pipe work, and quantity and size of tanks and generators with respect to each village. Mike and I are planning a field visit to roughly 5 of the targeted villages tomorrow to collect the additional data necessary.

We’ve met with several potential donors to discuss our capacity with them and propose relief works that will address the needs identified from the various needs assessment being conducted by IRD and other NGOs here. One of the more interesting meetings was with UNHCR, whose role has been limited to overseeing protection, temporary shelter, and camp management. There is no substantial IDP relocation/camp effort as most people with substantially damaged homes moved in with relatives and some even returned to their homes shortly after the war if there was a structure remaining. They will also distribute remedial repair kits for homes that essentially are temporary patchwork to close open portals, to be followed by more substantial repair kits for structurally damaged homes. In the second/early recovery phase, they are seeking to partner with organizations that can assist them in field assessment of damages, formulating technical solutions, training locals in the area in the necessary trades and overseeing/supervising reconstruction.

The damage in and around the city is incredibly extensive. It’s been quite a tiring, but extremely interesting learning experience for me, and I’m still quite excited to be a part of these efforts.

Lebanon...Still Walking....

September 6, 2006. As we drive from the airport to our accommodation, I can’t help feeling inspired by the Johnnie Walker advertisement situated along the route to Hamra. The bridge in the ad has clearly been destroyed in the middle, but there was Johnnie, having made it to the other side and still going. Crowning the illustration were the words, “Johnnie Walker….Still Walking.” 34 days of nonstop shelling and bombing by the Israeli Defense Forces in Southern Lebanon finally had come to a standstill, and a ceasefire had been declared on August 14th. International NGOs who did not have a presence in Lebanon prior to the 2006 war were flooding in from Cyprus and other surrounding nations, where they had all set up camp after vain attempts to enter Beirut in the preceding weeks, and were now scrambling to identify funding and contribute to the massive rehabilitation efforts already underway in the villages of the South. This included a team from my NGO, which I’ve just joined in Beirut to conduct additional needs assessments and begin establishing our office in-country.

This is my first time in Lebanon, and to come here has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember. I just never anticipated that a war would be the reason for visiting this beautiful country. Mike and I arrived to meet Adam who has already jumpstarted the networking and identification of needs and the funding required to implement potential programs. Though IRD is new to the country, it has an impressive track record of successfully delivering relief and development programs in conflict ridden societies such as the former Yugoslavia and Iraq among others, so we are considered a strong implementer despite having to compete for funding in an environment relatively saturated by other humanitarian agencies that have been established for quite some time. Adam brought us up to speed on all efforts underway, and we’ve begun setting out an action plan and deliverables to achieve during the five weeks of our assignment.