Diary jaumian libanaise

A blog about things a German girl sees in Lebanon.

[libanondiary]

I left Lebanon now some days ago. I didn't return home to Berlin immediately (at least not really...) but went on vacation. Which is nice to avoid the emptiness and sadness after finishing a phase in life. And coming from smog Beirut it was a good opportunity to give my lungs some relief in the French Alpes.

Now I'm back at work in Berlin. What is left after two months Beirut and Lebanon?

Everybody asks me if I liked it. Yes, I did. But this is very easy when you can leave whenever you want to. When you are a rich person in an expensive country (to clarify this point: I don't consider myself tremendously rich - but compared to so many people I saw in Beirut, I am.) So it is easy to like an expensive city if you can effort it. If the city shows you the nicest sides, because you pay for it.

My point of view is biased of course. I really wanted to go to Beirut. I've applied for this scholarship three times, I chose Beirut because it sounded promising (and not overcrowded with German freelance radio journalists). Because the city is neighbor to a horrible civil war, with the memory of a civil war, once divided, now reunited but still seperated on so many lines. I had the feeling (and this turned out to be true) that I couldn't learn anything about Lebanon from books.

Also, I wanted to challenge myself: Can I work in a foreign country? Do I get along with language problems, with cultural misunderstandings? Do I learn enough about mentality, politics, history and religion to avoid dropping the bricks?

Well, I didn't.

But I have an idea where to start. Now, I have to go deeper. I got to know so many people, journalists, artists, creative people, business men (and women of course!), politicians, students, professors...

This experience adds a puzzle piece to understand the world a little more. I'm grateful for this opportunity. This won't be last time I visited Lebanon. In fact I'm already planning on coming back in March.

So, thank you Beirut for making it so easy for me. And please, be as nice as to me to so many others who live within your walls. Voluntary or not.

[libanondiary]

Two sides... / Zwei Seiten...

A heavy storm has crossed Lebanon, named Zeina. It brought snow and low temperatures to the country. The whole region was covered in white.

My first thoughts were with the refugees, many of them living in tents, not being able to heat them, literally freezing to death. What happened was something that aid organisations warned of weeks and months before. It was only a matter of time, before the first reports came up, about children that suffered pneumonia, that froze to death (like it already happend in November).

The situation couldn't be much worse (here's an Al Jazeera article on this!) as the storm has even indirect victims:

Thousands of refugees have been left stranded in the Bekaa Valley with very little food and heating oil, as aid agencies struggle to gain access to them following the closure of roads due to the heavy snowfall.

But Lebanon wouldn't be Lebanon, if there weren't two sides of the medal. Shop owners and hotel employees in the ski ressorts are hoping for even more snow. After the storm, they opened during the past weekend for the first time this year. Business people and skiiers want to catch up what they missed last year.

Many are hoping that this year’s snowfall will make up for last year’s abysmal season, during which the slopes were open for only two days. Despite much anticipation, 2013’s storm “Alexa” was mild, with little to no snow all season long.

I was hoping to go skiing in Lebanon during my time there. To be honest, now I feel I wouldn't have enjoyed it. The consequences of of heavy snowfall are just too bad.

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Ein heftiger Sturm ist über den Libanon gefegt, mit Namen Zeina. Er brachte Schnee und niedrige Temperaturen ins Land, die ganze Region war in weiß gehüllt.

Meine ersten Gedanken sind bei den Flüchtlingen im Land, von denen viele in Zelten leben, nicht heizen können und wortwörtlich erfrieren. Davor haben Hilfsorganisationen seit Wochen und Monaten gewarnt. Es war nur eine Frage der Zeit, ehe es die ersten Berichte über Kinder mit Lungenentzündung gab, die erforen sind (wie es schon im November passiert ist).

Die Situation könnte nicht viel schlimmer sein (hier ist ein Al Jazeera Artikel darüber) , weil der Sturm auch indirekte Opfer hat.

Thousands of refugees have been left stranded in the Bekaa Valley with very little food and heating oil, as aid agencies struggle to gain access to them following the closure of roads due to the heavy snowfall.

Aber der Libanon wäre nicht der Libanon, wenn es nicht immer zwei Seiten der Medaille gebe. Ladenbesitzer und Hoteliers in den Skigebieten hoffen auf noch mehr Schnee. Nach dem Sturm haben sie am vergangenen Wochenende das erste Mal in diesem Jahr geöffnet. Geschäftsleute und Skifahrer wollen nachholen, was sie im vergangenen Jahr vermisst haben.

Many are hoping that this year’s snowfall will make up for last year’s abysmal season, during which the slopes were open for only two days. Despite much anticipation, 2013’s storm “Alexa” was mild, with little to no snow all season long.

Ich hatte gehofft, während meiner Zeit im Libanon auch Skifahren gehen zu können. Wenn ich ehrlich bin, denke ich, dass es mir keinen Spaß gemacht hätte. Die Konsequenzen des heftigen Schneefalls für die Menschen sind einfach zu heftig.

[libanondiary]

MedienMagazin 11.1.2015: Zwischen Beschränkung und Pressefreiheit - Medien im Libanon | BR.de

In vielen Teilen der Welt können Medien gar nicht erst unabhängig sein. So auch im Libanon. Politische Verwicklungen und Seilschaften sind an der Tagesordnung. Im Libanon ist die Situation aber noch einmal besonders: Denn das kleine Land hat Syrien zum Nachbarn und ein Teil der libanesischen Politik ist auch Kriegspartei.

For the German radio programme B5 aktuell I did a report on press freedom in Lebanon.

Core thesis: you can say whatever you want - if you're part of the right institution. But beware if you don't ...

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Für Radio B5aktuell habe ich einen Bericht über Pressefreiheit im Libanon gemacht. Kernthese: Du kannst sagen, was auch immer du willst - so lange du Teil der richtigen Institution bist. Aber nimm dich in Acht, wenn nicht!

[libanondiary]

German football is huge in Lebanon. / Deutscher Fußball ist einfach riesig im Libanon.

Being German in Lebanon in the year of the world cup is very easy. (Not that is has been hard before. But now it is even easier.)

Deutsche zu sein, ist im Jahr der Fußball-WM sehr einfach (nicht, dass es sonst besonders hart gewesen wäre, aber jetzt ist es noch einfacher!)

That’s due to football (yes, the European football, dear Americans: call it soccer...) Right on my first day here in Lebanon, I met one of the many supporters of the German team. It’s not that my colleague Myra only told me, she liked the team. But she’s also a supporter of the team of FC Bayern München. As I soon discovered, she’s not the only one. I met other journalists, taxi drivers, interview partners – and very often they confessed to like the German team. One taxi driver told me, he supported the German football team ever since the year 1998. And if they hadn’t made it this time, he would have looked out for another team. One opportunity might have been Brazil – as everyone who doesn’t support the German team seems to be in favour of the Brazilian one. (This might be due to the huge Lebanese community there.)

To give you an impression: This is a video from world cup time... Many of those flags are still in store!

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Und Schuld ist der Fußball. Gleich an meinem ersten Tag hier im Libanon, habe ich eine der vielen Fans der deutschen Mannschaft hier getroffen. Meine Kollegin Myra sagte mir aber nicht nur einfach, dass sie die Mannschaft mag. Sondern sie unterstützt auch den FC Bayern München. Wie ich bald herausfand, ist sie da nicht die einzige. Ich habe andere Journalisten, Taxifahrer, Interviewpartner getroffen - und seeeehr oft wurde mir gesagt: Ich mag die deutsche Mannschaft!

Ein Taxifahrer hat mir erzählt: Er ist seit dem Jahr 1998 Fan der deutschen Mannschaft. Und wenn sie es dieses Jahr nicht geschafft hätten, dann hätte er sich nach einem anderen Team umgesehen.

Eine Variante wäre zum Beispiel Brasilien gewesen. Denn jeder, der im Libanon nicht Deutschland unterstützt, bevorzugt Brasilien! (Vielleicht wegen der riesigen libanesischen Gemeinde dort.)

Um einen Eindruck zu geben: Hier ist ein Video aus der Zeit der WM. Viele Flaggen hängen immer noch!

But back to football: During my time here, I even found one more journalist being a fan for FC Bayern München. Unfortunately I didn’t find someone supporting Hamburg...

So, football has been a good start for some small talks, even better than the last few years. And there has been a really positive side effect of the whole world cup talk: It took nearly two months before I had my first Hitler conversation with taxi drivers!

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Aber zurück zum Fußball: Während meiner Zeit hier habe ich einen weiteren Journalisten kennengelernt, der München-Fan ist. Leider habe ich niemanden gefunden, der Hamburg mag...

Fußball war auf jeden Fall eine gute Gelegenheit für Smalltalk, noch besser als in den letzten Jahren. Und das ganze hatte auch einen positiven Nebeneffekt: Es hat fast zwei Monate gedauert, bis ich meine erste Hitler-Unterhaltung mit einem Taxifahrer hatte!

[libanondiary]

In my final days in Beirut, I finally made it to the Rose House. It's been famous in the city for everyone who cares about the beautiful old buildings. Because it was possible to visit it! Thanks to the artist Tom Young. He got the know the last owner of the place, an elderly woman. And convinced her that he could move in. Besides that his works about the house and its surroundings are beautiful, it is awesome to see a house like this inhabited and not in ruins - like so often in city.

Watch the short movie about the house and Young's ambition that he produced.

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In meinem letzten Tagen in Beirut habe ich es endlich zum Rose House geschafft. Jeder, der sich für wunderschöne alte Gebäude in der Stadt interessiert, kennt es. Weil es möglich ist, es zu besuchen! Dank des Künstlers Tom Young. Er hat die letzte Besitzerin des Hauses kennengelernt, eine ältere Frau. Und er hat sie dazu überredet, dass er einziehen durfte. Seine Arbeiten haben das Haus und die Umgebung als Thema, sind wunderschön. Außerdem ist es aber großartig das Haus bewohnt zu sehen und nicht nur als baufällige Ruine - wie sonst so oft in der Stadt.

Schaut euch den Film über das Haus und die Ambitionen von Tom Young an:

The exhibition is closed now. I wonder what will happen to this great place. I hope it will still be there when I get back to Lebanon in March and hopefully it is not replaced by another construction side to build another tower...

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Die Ausstellung ist jetzt beendet und ich frage mich, was mit diesem wundervollen Ort passieren wird. Ich hoffe, es ist immer noch da, wenn ich im März wieder in den Libanon fahre - nicht, dass es durch eine Baustelle ersetzt wurde. Um noch einen weiteren Büroturm zu bauen.

[libanondiary]

The Backgammon workshop!

I love Backgammon. Some of you might know this. I could play this for hours and hours, drinking tea or smoke an Argileh. Now a dream has come true: For shooting, we visited the workshop of a craftsman who actually produces these games. His name is Elie.

I found his workspace in Bourj Hammoud, an Armenian neighbourhood in Beirut and in Lebanon, Armenians are known to be good craftsman. (As I later found out, Elie is not Armenian but anyway.) The games and other things like tables, boxes and accessoires, are handmade. Elie has a lot of passion for his work, to him he is an artist. Not a craftsman. He told me, even if he hadn’t known the business since childhood, he would have chosen this path. Some years ago, he took over the shop from his father. The old man is occasionly around, working a bit, sitting outside the shop and having a cigarette. Elie dreams of being like this, too. One day, having done this hard work all his life, enjoy the sun and sometimes produce these beautiful things.

Below you’ll find a picture, explaining a bit of the process!

[libanondiary]

Talking to Roger Bendaly

With songs like “Do you love me?,” the Bendaly Family had their great success back in the 1970s and 80s. Decades later, Roger Bendaly is still working with the old tracks, bringing the old sounds to the 21st century.

Some of you might have come across this song... my colleague send me the link saying: Being in Lebanon, this is cultural heritage you have to know!

The idea to meet and see what this family is doing today came up immediatley. I met Roger Bendaly (who is not in the video, I'm sorry) on a Monday morning and he told me about the old times, the war times, the peace times and what it all is like now.

[libanondiary]

I’ve never produced so much waste like here, especially not so much plastic waste. The above pictures are just one example. I ordered a cup of tea. What I got was an environmentalist’s nightmare.

Two or three gram of tea leafes.

Stuffed in a silk bag, stuffed in paper box, wrapped in plastic.

Together with the sugar, the ashtray was full of trash - after just one cup of tea. And this just an example.

You didn’t really buy a good from a merchant, unless he hasn’t put in a plastic bag. Even one single tin needs its bag. Sweets are wrapped and the wrapping is wrapped again. An apple you buy at a gas station has a plastic wrapping. If you order delivery, the food will always come with at least one kit of cutlery, made and wrapped of plastic. And I don’t even speak about the whole lot of plastic water bottles that you use all the time because you can’t drink the tap water.

The remainders of this wrapping fanatism can be seen everywhere. Either in streets, in the sea or along the roads. Used plastic bags lie around, and sometimes they are burnt together with the rest. Garbage is usually not divided here. Only once, I saw special containers for plastic/ glas and for paper. But of how much use is this, if the normal way to deal with trash is to simply let it fall on the floor where ever you are?

[libanondiary]

Christmas, the festival of lights

As a last part, I want to give you some impression what Christmas actually looks like in Lebanon. Decorations are all over! Find the little green star on the map!

For the right experience, you have to turn on this song. Otherwise, it won't be authentic...

[libanondiary]

Zahle generator companies angry over 24 hour plan

It didn’t take long for owners of electricity generator companies to vehemently reject a plan by Electricite de Zahle to provide areas under its jurisdiction with 24 hours of power.

Welcome to Lebanon. A company is doing what it is supposed to. But not everybody is happy about it…

An electricity company in Zakhle wants to provide 24 hours per day electricity. Nice, you would think. But didn’t they do that the whole time as it is their job? No, they didn’t. But now, now they want to.

Great. Locals are happy, the municipality is happy, environmentalist are happy. (As you wouldn’t need generators anymore.)

But guess who’s not happy. The companies that sale generators. In Germany, they would now make up excuses why they don’t believe in the announcement and so on. In Lebanon, they are just honest. We’re against it because we’re loosing money. Please, dear government, give us financial support if this becomes reality.

There’s no reaction so far… but the whole claim is so… Lebanon.

[libanondiary]

I fell in love with the sea side...

Before I was coming here, I was imagining to spend a lot of my time in Beirut at the beach. To just sit in the sand, listen to music, listen to the waves of the Mediterranean, relaxing and sometimes doing some sports. This didn’t happen. Only the day before yesterday, I went to the beach – for the first time!

Even though Beirut is in fact located directly at the sea you rarely see that, at least you don’t get close enough to feel the sand under your feet. Public beach, a place where you just go, have a walk, a picnic or an argileh, has become rare. As far as I learnt, there is just one: Ramlet al Baida, at one end of the corniche.

The beach is maybe some 250 meters long, the sand is nice, I’m not too sure about the water quality, and the atmosphere is very relaxed. People were there with their kids, playing on the rusty playground, strolling along the shore and doing some workout. I even saw one brave guy taking a swim. As we’ve been there before sunset, nothing dodgy at all was to the place. It is supposed to be different after sunset, but I don’t know.

I just enjoyed this small piece of land, hearing the water and smelling the sea air – the first time in Beirut!

[libanondiary]

In the hills of southern Lebanon - Mleeta

lIn southern Lebanon, a Hizbollah stronghold, you can visit a "Resistance Tourist Landmark", a museum/ park about Hizbollah's fight against Israel. The museum of Mleeta is a surreal place to see - similar to other war museums around the region. The nickname "Hizbollah Disneyland" is a bit too much for my taste, but the idea behind it is similar. Visitors are literally taken to the fighting path.

[libanondiary]

Lebanon is famous for its Cedars - a certain kind of tree is even named: Lebanese Cedar. It can withstand the hard climate in the mountains of Lebanon, cold in winter, rainy in autumn and warm in summer.

But for a long time, the tree has been felled because it is such valuable timber. Nowadys, a large portion of all cedars left is found in the Chouf Cedar Reserve. But, as Kamal Abou Assi from the Reserve told me, it is not only about the cedar. The management is working on the whole eco-system. Part of that is involving the locals. At the beginning there has been fears that huge hotels are being build, that visitors with their cars would destroy the nature.

Pretty much the opposite happened. Guests stay with locals in small bed & breakfasts, I saw NO hotel at all in the whole area. On longer tours, the reserve suggests to all the guests to hike only with a local guide. Awareness programmes for both visitors and locals are organised. Different from the rest of the country, there was no rubbish in the forests, not even along one street that is leading up a hill. In Chouf, sustainable ecotourism is promoted. According to Kamal, Lebanese have to get used to this concept more than foreigners who come here to enjoy the green and the fresh air.

Besides all the concept, hiking and walking in the reserve is simply a great relief from all the hectic, the noise and smell within crowded Beirut. There, in Barouk and Maaser el Chouf, you could walk for hours and rarely meet anybody.

For the next time, I’d love to take a guided tour and to get some more information about the local traditions. Chouf is mostly Druze, would be exciting to get to learn some more details!

[libanondiary]

Original and fake. Allegedly, this tree we've seen while hiking in the Chouf mountains is the one on the Lebanese flag.

I couldn't take a picture from further away (the hillslope...) but still there are doubts... Nevertheless, the Chouf mountains and the Chouf Cedar Reserve are worth a visit. The approach to include locals into the creation of a reserve that will benefit the economy and the environment (more on that in another blog post!) is very respectable and worth to support. Each and everyone can adopt a cedar that will be planted. Currently, it's the season for this because it's "autumn" (I love temperatures of more than 15°C during December). The best thing about it: even if you're not in Lebanon, you can check out your tree online.

If this works for the whole life span of such a cedar I don't know... the oldest trees in the Reserve are 3000 years old!

[libanondiary]

Belated, but nevertheless: 3rd Advent!

I had some Internet issues last days (yes, I know: welcome to Lebanon...). Uploading the video took me two hours... But, on sunday I visited the very nice service in the Maronite Church of Mar Elias. Here's what I've made of it:

[libanondiary]

How close Syria is, you realise every day in Lebanon. But that there is still more or less normal traffic between the two countries, I wasn't aware of for a long time. Now I have been to Charles Helou bus station. It is located under a highway bridge close to a really fancy street full of pubs. The first thing you hear here (besides the traffic noises) is an old man screaming with his rusty voice "aShaam! aShaam!" Shaam is dialect, for Damascus. He's interrupted by a younger man, "aTartous!" Tartous is a harbor city in Syria. Then you start looking around and realize the signs. Busses are going not only to Damascus and Tartous, but also to Homs, Hama and Daraa. I don't know if these are actually going, and how much the trips are. Looking around in the bus station you discover also a lot of Syrian car plates. Even more than in the city. Some years ago, staying in Beirut for two months, I would have spend at least one weekend in Damascus. Friends of mine took the tour the other way round when we've been to Syria. It would not have taken long to go there, my Lebanese visa would have been valid for this trip. Nowadays, I was astonished when I first heard about the possibility to go to Syria. A taxi driver that took us to Baalbek said, he's going there regularly. The road from Beirut, he said, is controlled by Hizbollah and therfore safe. To get a visa for Syria would take Europeans ten days, but he even took people without visa. Problem is not getting in. Getting out again might be tricky, because Lebanon doesn't want back potential terrorists. By the way, I didn't take one of the busses to Syria (even though I'd love to see Damascus again). I took a bus to Tripoli. So, stay safe.

[libanondiary]

The case of the abducted soldiers

Since the beginning of my stay in Lebanon, there has been much coverage about one particular story which you probably didn't hear so much about in Germany. At least 30 soldiers and police men have been kidnapped in August, by Jabhat al Nusra or IS and their allies. Since then, some of them have been killed and some released.

Lebanese newspaper Daily Star did a very comprehensive timeline about the details on this case. 

I'm not a crisis communication manager/ PR specialist, but the way Lebanese officials have dealt with this case and the families of these service men seems wrong to me.

There have been threads to kill more of the hostages, which led to last minute meditation, leading to some extensions, leading to even more threads and finally killings. Families were protesting in Beirut Downtown, blocking important roads. They demand a swap of prisoners (here's a report from the time when they were still protesting in Dahr al Bayda). And what were the families told by politicians? This kind of behaviour would be reckless...

The statement comes two days after police used water cannon to disperse the families of the captives from the highway that leads into Downtown Beirut, drawing criticism by many who accused authorities of excessive use of force. 

The latest piece is that Information Minister Ramzi Joreige asked the media not to cover the case anymore in detail. This is nothing very uncommon. I think German Auswaertiges Amt asked the media for the same while German hostages were held in the Philippines. But something that I haven't heard of is a threat if media would not oblige the wish for silence around the case.

“Lebanese law, and the penal law in particular, condemn such behavior, which could be interpreted as exposing Lebanon to hostile attacks, weakening the nationalist sentiment or inciting tensions that threaten civil peace and public safety,” the minister said. 

Now, newspapers are speculating about a new deal: all the Lebanese hostages against some prisoners. Newspapers didn't go into details about this. But they are writing about the wives of some militia leaders that might be freed.