Ara and his wife Renée-Vera do not want to describe themselves as “desperate”, but they have no idea how and when they will be able to recover from the effects of the explosion.
Ara is a piano tuner who works on call, a freelancer who has no social security or a secure pension, his wife Renée-Vera is a housewife, their two eldest children live in Scotland and their youngest daughter, Vana, has just returned from a PhD in the UK. Ara’s family had no major economic problems until the monetary and financial crisis shook the Lebanese economy in 2019. Now, after the explosion in the port of Beirut on August 4, the situation that was difficult, distances the hope of a recovery. On the day of the disaster, the family had just returned from Scotland: they had left to attend the conclusion of Vana’s PhD and had been stranded there because of the pandemic. The explosion that occurred in the port of Beirut caught them at home and suddenly the roar and the rain of debris hit them . In an instant the walls shook, the doors and windows were torn off and shards of glass and pieces of furniture were thrown everywhere. The fear of that moment is indescribable, only the consolation of still being alive and not having been seriously injured can help the family overcome nightmares and sleepless nights. They managed to repair the most urgent things, such as the front door and the windows, but the house still needs a lot of work , from the interior doors to the furniture, many of which are unusable, including the balcony curtains, needed to repair the washing machine and the storage room that in Beirut is usually kept outside. For this reason they are looking for a carpenter who can repair the furniture at an acceptable price, not an easy task given that craftsmen charge for their work following the dollar rate on the black market . An unsustainable exchange rate for many Lebanese families. Ara and his wife Renée-Vera do not want to call themselves “desperate”, they thank God because they are still alive, but they are afraid of the future . They have decided not to leave Lebanon, but they hope that their daughter will find work abroad like her brothers. Support the project of the Emergency Coordination of the Focolare Movement, which is accompanying the most affected families to rebuild the present and look to the future with new hope. [vc_btn title=”Click here to support the project” color=”warning” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amu-it.eu%2Fsostienici%2Fdona-ora-2%2F||target:%20_blank|”][vc_column_text]
