So as you may know, I moved to this town in the middle of nowhere (seriously, check out Zahlé on google maps, you zoom in and there's like.. nothing) back in January. My brother came to visit me a few months ago and described it as looking/feeling "post soviet." Of course it didn't help that my apartment got insanely cold in the winter and we could see our breath at all times of the day. Really though, my roommate and I didn't even own a fridge until just a few weeks ago because it would have been pointless. My olive oil and shampoo were always frozen anyways (thank you for that, winter)- so why buy a fridge? Thankfully though, winter is now over and I am alive and well.
Let me tell you a little more about the setting here: Zahle has one strip of shops and restaurants, an industrial part of the town, and then LOTS of fields. It's quite beautiful, minus the industrial part of town. Over here, anytime past 5ish and the whole place becomes a ghost-town. Everyone stays home because they're afraid. I think it's just paranoia, but I guess living 15 minutes away from the Syrian border will do that to you. Plus, there's honestly just not much to do in Zahle, hence my frequent trips to Beirut on weekends.
My usual week consists of teaching English to 5 classes, with student's ages ranging from 5 to 12 years old. Overall I teach 11 classes a week. Then I have two days reserved for inter-agency meetings and accomplishing solely administrative work for the NGO. This usually involves putting together expense reports, contacting other NGO's, doing informal research/surveys of different refugee settlements, paying teachers, or organizing distributions for the relief wing of the organization. So somedays I get to stay at the office and comfortably work on stuff with a cup of tea in front of me, and other days I pull on my super heavy-duty rain boots and tromp around in muddy refugee settlements knocking on people's doors (if they have doors). I ask them questions about their living situation, or their level of interest in there being a school built in their area. My week is always PACKED, but then I'm typically people/events-hungry enough to still catch a bus and head to Beirut once the work week is over. And talk about two entirely different worlds! It's always a bit tiring transitioning back to Zahle, but generally worth the hop to Beirut anyways.
Do I love it? Yes and yes. The most rewarding part of it all is working with the children. Some of them can be quite difficult, but the majority are just the sweetest little things, and you can't help but fall in love with them. I hope to be able to protect and invest in that sweetness and youthfulness. It's taking me a while to develop a bigger picture of the refugees in this region, the kind of future they have in this world, and how myself and the NGO I'm working with can play a big role in pushing them towards a well-rounded, fuller life. There's a lot of potential that's just being wasted away here, but it's taking me a while to get over my numbness and feelings of defeat towards it all. I must confess that I often just get sucked into their poverty mindset of coping and surviving, instead of helping members of the community envision a better life for themselves that's attainable. And for the record, a desire for a better life is not just a presumptive assumption on my part of what they should or probably want- it's something that's been voiced to me over and over again by people who are genuinely suffering (and not just because they're refugees). There is so much more I can say about this topic but I'll save that for another time.
Alright, enough text. Here's a compilation of totally random photos and stories from the last few months. Hit me with your questions/comments if you have any!