Some people live to eat; some eat to live while others barely live, never mind eating. These “others” are many, as many as the luxurious meals that end up every minute in a trash can. These “others” whom were adapted to pitiful life conditions were left scattered and homeless due to a different kind of hunger, a hunger for power. They would deprive themselves of food just to feed their children, they might wish to taste a cold stoned slice of bread while others nag about not having enough types of food in their fridge. They were living peacefully content with what was available until war broke out and swallowed everything up. Some of them work all day long just to buy anything to eat; others dig in waste bins for it. We don’t think of food because whenever we’re “hungry” it’s available, but what about those who “starve”? Who thinks of them?
The Catering Class Lebanese students of the Competency Based Skills training, of the “Learning and Skills Programs for Syrian Refugees and Lebanese Youth” project, at LOST Baalbeck do. They, a group of youth aged 14 to 19, decided along with their trainer Hussein Toufaily and Area manager Ahmad Jaafar, to cook a meal for Syrian Refugees of Douris Shall Camp. Work was set off in the early morning, at Beituna restaurant, the regular gathering place for Cooking Classes. Sounds of chopping, roasting and mincing brought the kitchen to life; cooking scents filled the place, until 25 Fatoush and Rice & Chicken meals, with a sprinkle of love on top, were packed and sealed to be delivered. Upon asking one of the students about the reason that made him skip all the Sunday activities to come and cook for 25 almost strangers, his reply was: “Sure I could have gone out with my friends but that’s something we always do, I wanted to do something different,” and continued “we came up with this initiative because we wanted the Syrian refugees to have a taste of our Baalbacki hospitality, we want them to try a different meal today as a change.”
The students headed together along with two supervisors and the area manager, by bus to the camp. There they met 25 Syrian beneficiaries who attend Cognitive Skills Training classes and distributed them meals. Some of them came along with children; distribution went smoothly in a quiet orderly manner. Pictures of the beneficiaries were taken, some stories were told, and new acquaintances were made. One of the beneficiaries, Mariam El Mahmoud (22 years old) who is pregnant, when interviewed stated that they were glad with the meals distributed, since their daily meal is usually constituted of vegetables, beans, lentils and such sort of food, but they rarely have meat or chicken for lunch. It depends on each family’s capability, even though that they enjoy 3 meals per day. She added: “These meals you have distributed today are of great help since many families are working at this time of day while their children are left behind definitely hungry waiting for their mothers to come back and prepare lunch, thus you’ll save exhausted mothers the effort of preparing lunch today when they come back from work.”
Paying such a visit can make one only more appreciative and thankful to what he has, and more willing to help further needy families with much more, because no matter how hard one works or exhausted might be, the smile placed on these people’s faces is way more worth all the tiny help provided. This makes us at LOST and UNICEF more eager to help people in need and share the heavy burdens life throws in their way.
