The beauty of Lebanon

Wow, these last days have been intense, packed with meeting people, listening to their stories, learning about their struggles and starting to become friends with them and Lebanon... It all started with googeling to find a church where we could go to on Sunday and ended up with spending the whole Sunday and most of the following days just hanging out with those great people we met there... GOD IS GOOD...
We were invited to stay with a family living in a small town by the beach and enjoyed so much being able to play around in the water, cook some spaghetties and watch a movie in the evening in a peacefull atmosphere.

A day trip brought us back to some more less enjoyable history lessons. We visited a former detention camp that was run by Israeli troops and the SLA who occupied the whole region until their withdrawal in 2000. Walking through the remaining buildings it becomes clear why the people cannot easily let go of hatred and a strong sense of injustice. The wounds are deep and the road to reconcilitaion seems impossible to take. Driving through that area reminded me once more of Belfast. Portraits of victims and martyrs, flags everywhere and the same tone of propaganda in the way things are documented...
People we talked to expressed their sense of hopelessness and frustration. Talks about a new war etc. don't help much with that. It takes a lot to keep hope alive. And yet there lies so much hope in just the beauty of the country that leaves no doubt about the creator that is still watching over this place. Travelling to the mountains both in the south and the north we were easily convinced of that.

So we are definitely enjoying our time here which makes the remaining days quite precious.
And tonight... Apocalyptica in Beirut... Yeah!