Lebanon!

The adventure begins! 

After having flewn into Beirut yesterday evening, we arrived safely at our home in Maghdouche, a beautiful small town next to Sayda in the south of the country, and have been welcomed very warmly by all our hosts and friends.

Watching people welcoming their family members at the airport had given us a first impression of how joyful, kind and welcoming people are here and makes us look forward to our experience! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fratelli!

In the morning, we had a first meeting with the international team of brothers, teachers and volunteers of the Fratelli Association (https://www.facebook.com/FratelliLibano) that we are going to join every morning from now on. This initiative was founded by brothers from different religious communities to help refugee children here in Lebanon. These children often have experienced horrifying traumatic events, and our team's goal is to provide them with an atmosphere of friendship, so that they will be able to regain trust in others little by little (more concrete infos about the project will follow soon).

The international team of brothers, teachers and volunteers committed within the Fratelli project

The founders of the Fratelli Association rebuilt this old school (that had been destroyed and abandoned during the civil war in Lebanon) into an education centre for refugee children.

Arriving to our new home.

 

Further ideas for our program

In the afternoons, we are going to meet people from different denominations and parishes and help with pastoral activities in our home town Maghdouche. Today, we got in touch with many different people whom we would like to meet on our pilgrimage through Lebanon. At the moment, many young people are meeting in summer camps and are not in their home towns. This is why tomorrow, we will start visiting these summer camps to get to know young people and pray with them.

 

Maghdouche

Finally, we wanted to find out more about where we actually live. Maghdouche is located on a hill to the south-east of Sayda and offers us an extraordinary view on the Lebanon mountains, the city of Sayda with its beautiful coast, the fruitful nature in between, and the biggest Palestinian refugee camp here in Lebanon (more infos very soon!).
It says that Mary waited for Jesus in this very village when he was preaching to the people of Sayda and Tyre. This is why a big sanctuary is being built here. Soon, we will provide you with some more info about this very historical and biblical place.
Greetings from the hill! 

The newly built basilique of Maghdouche ...

... from inside ...

... and above!

Our panorama from Maghdouche spanning from the Lebanon mountains down to Sayda's coast










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