30.11.2012

What has happened so far? (5/11/12 - 18/11/12)


Last week the restriction on our freedom of movement was almost completely removed. This was very important for starting the third pillar of the caravan project, which the education about the History and politics of Lebanon and about the three big monotheistic Religions. So University started on Tuesday  with three lessons about the prehistoric, ancient and newer history of Lebanon. The third lesson on friday took place in the National Museum of Beirut which has some very important and interesting pieces of Lebanese and European history. For example you can find a sarcophogus there which has one of the oldest inscriptions of the phoenizian Alphabet on it.
In addition to the start of university, we were also pleased to have the first visit from some of the parents (Georgina´s parents and Jakob´s father). They were very kind enough to invite us all for a lovely dinner on Saturday at a Lebanese restaurant in Achrafiyeh. This visit was a good oppurtunity to show the parents that there is nothing to worry about in terms of the situation here and that it is for the most part very safe.
This week we had our trial run of the caravan spa in Deir el Qamar on Monday. We treated the girls to some mannicures and massages. We even were lucky enough to get our own mannicures from the girls themselves (this was especially enjoyable for Callum...). This week we also experienced something that can only be found in Lebanon; on our way home for Jamhour we encountered a massive traffic jam. Usually, anywhere in Europe, people would have patiently waited for the traffic to continue moving. But no no no, not in Lebanon. At the sight of this traffic jam, everyone decided to turn around on the extremely busy high way and drive the other way in an attempt to avoid waiting. So parts of the cars were going in the right and some in the wrong diretion on the highway what of course caused another accident and another traffic jam, so our driver simpily dicided to drive on the pavement of the highway back to the next exit in order to leave the highway. 
In the end we still arrived savely in our appartment, although the way home was quite adventours.

By Jakob and Aglae

07.11.2012

Sickness, a Bike and 2 Invitations (29/10/12 - 4/11/12)


On Monday we had a quiet day in our flat. Since we were not allowed to leave the small area around Naqqashe, due to the bomb, we could not do service in Deir el Kamar. However, this allowed a peaceful transition from the quietness of our spiritual retreat into work and study.
In the following days service was as normal, but nearly all of us suddenly became sick. It appeared that the water which we had all innocently consumed in the Holy valley was not for Europeans, or for the unaccustomed! While some of us struggled to service on a diet of air, others stayed at home nursing their stomachs which rejected everything.
Nevertheless, service in Antelias was performed whole-heartedly, with much enthusiasm. This time we were honoured to be joined by a Lebanese volunteer. The boys were delighted by our game ‘’cat-cat-dog’’ and by the birthday party with cake. This was to celebrate All Saints Day, and since we are all saints, we celebrated for all of us! As always, they were sad to see us go and smothered us with kisses on our way out.
On Saturday I walked across the highway and asked, in my best British accent, ‘’wein fi mahal biisiclet?’’ I was directed by pointing to a cafe which turned out to be a bicycle shop, conveniently. After a bit of banter in Arabic, French and English, no-one understanding any of the words, I bought an old bike for $70 and rode it back to Naqqashe feeling very smug. In the evening Valerie, Michel, Alain and Elio cooked chicken and mashed potatoes for us, with sticky chocolate brownies for pudding. Thirteen of us sat around the table and there was much merriment.
On Sunday evening we were honoured to be invited out to dinner by one of CARAVAN’s closest friends, Cheik Walid. The meal began with typical Lebanese dishes, followed by a broad range of fish, and finished with different Lebanese sweets. Towards the end of the dinner, Cheik Walid thanked CARAVAN most graciously for our work in Lebanon and for supporting Christians in the country.
by Callum

06.11.2012

Valerie in Town & Spiritual Retreat (22/10/12 - 28/10/12)


Last week, we were glad to welcome Valerie in Naccache! We started with a meeting with Paul Saghbini (hospitalar of the Order of Malta) and Dr Issa on Monday night. We discussed the political situation and our future in Lebanon; what a relief to know that we were allowed to stay in Lebanon! However, we couldn’t go to Beirut and Deir el Qamar for 2 weeks due to the situation…. We discovered the joy of playing board games on the evening!

On Thursday, after the service in Antélias (first floor) we packed our bibles, notebooks and sleeping bags to go to the Holy Valley for our first spiritual retreat! After 2 hours of travelling and 20 minutes of walking in the dark, we arrived tired but excited in the old Monastery of “Notre Dame de Qannoubine” built in the rock. We started this silent retreat by a talk with Abouna Romanos about the call of God. The next two days were regulated by Holy Mass, group talks and individual talks with Abouna Romanos, meals in silence and moments of meditation in silence when we could go for long walks, enjoy the Qadisha Valley... Even if experiencing this silence appeared to be a bit difficult, exhausting and in a certain way quite “loud”, these three days were really worth it for every one of us and amazing! We came back to Naccache on Sunday afternoon relaxed and happy. Thank you so much Michel and Abouna for having organized this retreat!
by Charlotte

Bomb (!) & Barka Trip (15/10/12 - 21/10/12)

This week was almost the same like the weeks before. We continued the “Olympic Games” in Deir el Kamar because this time we had another group and a smaller number of girls. We replaced the egg and spoon race with the “guess, what’s under the blanket”-game. Therefore we put some things on a blanket and the girls have about one minute to memorize these before we cover it with a second blanket. After these different competitions we had a final game where everyone has a balloon tied around the leg. It was  the aim to protect the own balloon and to destroy the others. After this exhausting game every girl got a medal for her achievments. In Antelias we had the boys from the upper floor (altogether we have boys from two floors, so every floor every second week) and after the introductory singing round we spent one hour on playing bowling, pot-hitting and the “cat-dog-game”. As well as the previous week the service with the boys was great fun and a huge success.On Friday, when we had service in Deir el Salib a car bomb exploded in Ashrafieh, an area in the middle of Beirut. Eight people died, around eighty got injured and the whole street was completely destroyed. At this time most of us were in the garden and heard the explosion but we first realized that it had been a bomb when we saw it in the TV (before we thought it was a thunder). When we came back from service we didn’t know if there are any consequences for us and we had to leave the apartment anyways for a trip to the mountains, so we didn’t speak a lot about this attack before the weekend. Of course everybody was shocked and worried we would be sent back home because it would be too unstable for the Caravan in Lebanon but we hoped the situation would get better within the following days. We spent the whole weekend in the mountains in a little village called Barka. Therefore we left Naqqashe on Saturday in the morning and had a three hours ride to this village. There we were invited by the village community for lunch and dinner and for breakfast on Sunday. We joined them when they planted new trees and visited an ostrich farm and a small vinery. In the evening the youth of the village taught us in dancing “Dabke”, a traditional Lebanese dance. On the next day we participated in a memorial mass for a nun who died one month before and we as the Caravan were allowed to sing during the communion. After the mass we returned to Naqqashe. Altogether it was a great trip because the people were really nice and hospitable.
by Paul