Global Ministries Partner MECC meets needs in Lebanon

Global Ministries Partner MECC meets needs in Lebanon

Besieged by the ongoing Israeli bombardment, residents of Beirut and other parts of Lebanon are taking refuge in their hundreds in public gardens and parks where tents have been put up to offer people shelter.

Besieged by the ongoing Israeli bombardment, residents of Beirut and other parts of Lebanon are taking refuge in their hundreds in public gardens and parks where tents have been put up to offer people shelter.

The Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), a Global Ministries partner, reports that it has been assisting some 260 displaced families in the Mount Lebanon and Beirut areas through its Inter-church Network for Development and Relief in Lebanon (ICNDR) and with the support from local partner organizations. However, MECC expressed concern about its ability to offer assistance to people in the south, due to the ongoing shelling of the area, air raids and the complete destruction of roads.

The general secretary of MECC, Guirgis Saleh, writes in an update that field visits by ICNDR staff and volunteers revealed the extent of the needs for immediate assistance. In the north, which includes Beqaa, Beirut and Mount Lebanon, assistance will be possible. In Tripoli, Akkar and Batroun, assessment teams have identified such items as mattresses, sheets, diapers and medication for chronic diseases, as those most needed by people at the moment.

Mr. Saleh reports that two colleagues, Ghaith Maalouf and Robert Nicolas, and their families are now safe after they managed escape when a church they were sheltering in was hit. “The church they had sought refuge in was damaged and five people were injured,” Mr. Saleh writes, explaining that “nevertheless, ICNDR’s local partners are ready to secure goods from the markets and arrange for distribution.”

In Beshwet, the ICNDR center for people with mental disabilities opened its doors to 75 displaced persons, most of whom were women and children who had been relying on friends and neighbors for food.

“It should be noted that the Lebanese population living in the proximity of centers for the displaced is expressing solidarity and providing support to the displaced families, offering hot meals, clothes, blankets, sheets and other basic items,” writes Mr. Saleh.

In Beirut, ICNDR staff are working with the municipality to secure water to one of the referral centers, a public garden, with no facilities to access water, where hundred families have sought shelter.

In a letter sent July 20 to members of the World Council of Churches (WCC), WCC general secretary Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia wrote, “The killing of civilians, the destruction of housing and infrastructure and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese and other nationals is an affront to humanity.” Kobia urged WCC members to generously support appeals for humanitarian needs in Lebanon as well as to engage in advocacy with their governments to pressure the fighting parties to implement an immediate cease-fire.

The first three weeks of the current escalation of conflict in the Middle East, which has engulfed Lebanon, has seen several hundred people killed—Palestinians and Lebanese civilians in their hundreds, and nearly 30 Israelis—creating a situation where everyone in the region is living in fear of their lives.

Contributions are encouraged in order to meet the growing humanitarian crisis in Lebanon and in Gaza. Those who would like to contribute may designate a gift to  One Great Hour of Sharing /Middle East Crisis or to  Week of Compassion /Lebanese Crisis.