“We wish each other well. God says to hope for good so that it may come.” Bilal is Syrian, but has lived in Lebanon for twenty years, is married to Aline and they have three children. The explosion at the port of Beirut last summer completely upset their lives.
Bilal and his family lived right in front of the port and on the ground floor of the same building they had a grocery and household goods store. On August 4, 2020, their life changed radically . The apartment and the store were practically destroyed and then looted in the days following the explosion. Without shelter and a job, with his wife seriously injured and hospitalized and undergoing various therapies, surgeries and rehabilitation, Bilal was able to count on the hospitality of some friends and relatives, however dividing his family and having to bear the costs of daily transportation to Beirut . Today, thanks to the action of the Focolare Movement, AMU and AFN , the store has been repaired and, even in a scenario of deep economic crisis, it has resumed its activity. The house, however, is still destroyed, Bilal and his family today live in rented accommodation and do not know if they will ever be able to recover it. What remains is a deep fear : the children are still traumatized and need psychological help, the adults fear the future: of being abandoned by the authorities and of not being able to fully rebuild their lives. “Now we don’t have the terror we experienced on the day of the explosion and immediately after. But we continue to be afraid because they ruined our future. I fear losing my rights, not being able to complete Aline’s treatment. I fear that my children will not overcome the trauma and that they will have negative repercussions at school too.” Bilal’s words are those of all the Lebanese of Beirut, tested first by the economic crisis and then by the tragedy of the explosion. But they are also the words of those who still have hope thanks to the solidarity they have seen from all over the world move towards them : “We hope the government will do its job. For now we have managed to get back on our feet thanks to the help we have received: we have lost our home, our car, our shop, everything. Now we can work, but there is still a lot to do.” The Emergency Project of the Focolare Movement, AMU and AFN has completed the first interventions and is now planning the next ones thanks to the help received from all the supporters.
