00:00This is a charity organization that started in 2019, it was set up by me and my husband
00:09because we just wanted to give a small supermarket for the elders who don't have any retirement
00:14pensions in Lebanon, knowing that elders represent 11% of the total population, which is the
00:19highest number in the entire Middle East and North Africa.
00:22So we started with this small concept and nine months later, in 2019, the revolution
00:27started and all of a sudden we found ourselves completely blown away and things went out
00:32of proportion.
00:33So we had to transform Betel Baraka from a retirement pension, if you want support system
00:39into an emergency relief organization.
00:42And this is when, when the war started, we were able to support immediately.
00:47So the pressure is having to constantly adapt to something new because you know what, every
00:53person works in his or her own field of expertise.
00:59No one is capable of working on so many fields.
01:02So today the crises in Lebanon are the following.
01:05You have food shortage, you have medicine shortage, you have housing shortage, and this
01:12has been going on for five years now since the revolution.
01:16Not that the revolution caused it, on the contrary, the revolution was just to open
01:20the eyes of everyone.
01:22And then you have the biggest problem, which is education.
01:25People don't have access to their funds in order to pay their tuition fees.
01:29So what happened with the war?
01:32First of all, people got displaced, 1.2 million.
01:35We all know this number, we've heard it so many times, but what does it actually mean?
01:391.2 million were displaced when the war started, but then they went back home.
01:45Most of them found no homes to come back to.
01:48So now all the 973 public schools that were transformed into shelters are now empty.
01:55And people went back to the south, to the Bekaa, to Dahye, but the people from the south
02:00and the Bekaa particularly are farmers and they're small producers.
02:04So these are people of the land who never, never ask for help because these are people
02:09with dignity.
02:11But during the war, we were capable of managing things in a different way because we registered
02:18ourselves in the governorate of Beirut's emergency department.
02:23And it was a department set up a few days before the actual war.
02:27So we asked the governor to give us 28 schools that were transformed into shelters exclusively
02:33operated by us, by Bet El Baraka.
02:35And there you had more than 20,000 people that we were offering food to on a daily basis,
02:40breakfast, lunch and dinner.
02:42These people are now a bit everywhere, in cars, in shelters within their municipalities,
02:47at relatives, whatever.
02:50But when they were in the schools, we provided mattresses, bedsheets, quilts, pillows, whatever
02:55it took to at least give them some dignity while sleeping.
02:59How difficult was it to sort of ramp up when those services were so gravely needed, particularly
03:06those kitchens that you were running in schools?
03:09That would have had to be a pretty quick operation to get that off the ground.
03:13How difficult was that?
03:15It was terribly difficult.
03:16But the thing is, you know, when you've lived through the August 4, 2020 explosion in the
03:21Beirut port, I think you can live through anything.
03:25The Beirut port explosion, unfortunately, was a learning curve for us to work under
03:29extreme pressure, extreme violence, extreme disorganization and find your way through
03:34and navigate through the challenges.
03:36We receive a lot of funding from private donors in Australia and we're registered in the United
03:40States as well.
03:41It's actually a roller coaster because when the COVID started, it was a peak.
03:46Then it was another peak downwards.
03:49And then after the explosion, again, another peak and two months later, a peak downwards.
03:54Now the peak was, of course, 23 September.
03:57It was fabulous.
03:58I mean, people were mobilized everywhere.
04:02The big problem now is that, of course, when you hear ceasefire, you automatically stop
04:06donating.
04:07But the problem is that the suffering starts now because people are no longer in shelters.
04:14You still have to give them food.
04:15You still have to give them homes.
04:17The need is now bigger than ever, but donations have stopped.
04:21So there is a lot of work.
04:24The Lebanese people are known for this.
04:25We rebound very quickly.
04:28We bounced back very quickly and we're a happy population no matter what, so uncrushable.
Comments