Reflections on solidarity, reciprocity, being a family, sharing with Samar, Eliane, Jessica and Grace who were among the first to receive support from AMU’s project in Lebanon.
Zouk Mosbeh is a coastal town north of Beirut where Samar, Eliane, Jessica and Grace live, four women, four mothers who work for the same insurance company. The economic crisis in Lebanon has really hit the country’s middle class hard. Medicines and many basic necessities are in short supply. The assistance project launched by AMU, in collaboration with Humanité Nouvelle Liban and the Apostolic Vicariate of Beirut, provides support for the most vulnerable families through the periodic distribution of crates of food and hygiene products and psychological support for a number of families in difficulty.
Samar, Eliane, Jessica and Grace managed to cope with the economic crisis until 2021. Then circumstances changed, as Eliane, a mother of two, recalls: “This is the first time the crisis has hit my family so hard. I was touched to receive this box (of food and hygiene products from the AMU project, ed). Usually people help you with small things, not like this. The parcels we are receiving are something so big!”.
The solidarity experienced by these women goes beyond their office’s walls, invades their private lives and becomes a desire for reciprocity: “These boxes show that there are still people who are willing to take care of others. And that to me is one of the noblest qualities of human beings; every act of kindness you do will somehow come back to you”. Grace agrees: “Everyone of us without exception, is going through a difficult time but God is not abandoning us. We are doing everything we can to make sure that our children have everything they need. There is precious food in the parcels, and whenever possible we make it available to the other tenants in our building, as our way of giving back.”