The Youth News

August 4th, 2020. A date that marked every Lebanese and especially every volunteer. That date marked not only the destruction of Beirut, but also the union and the kindness of the people. And what a better way to show unlimited support than by volunteering with the Youth of the Order of Malta along with other NGOs. A group of our most active volunteers organized and divided the work into 3 phases.

Phase 1: Cleaning.
Walking through the streets of Beirut on the 5th of August was maybe the hardest thing to do with broken glass everywhere, collapsed buildings, destroyed cars… Nonetheless, it was compensated by the sight of crowds with brooms, gloves and masks, all working together. So in the heat, with the Order’s mask on, we walked through the streets, helping as many families as possible, cleaning their houses and emptying the streets from all the debris. In small groups, the volunteers did their best to remove the horrible traces left from the blast while taking all the precautions needed as for their safety and health (given the Covid-19 situation).
This work went on for 2 weeks as it continued while phase 2 began.

Phase 2: Assessments.
The Youth’s next mission was to ensure a study of the Geitaoui region, one of the poorest and most affected areas. Each team tried to cover at least one street per shift, going to every building, knocking on every door and taking as many details as possible. A detailed form per house was filled in order to compare the damages, the living and the financial situations of the families. At the end of this phase, the volunteers collected the necessary information for 135 houses in total.
On to the last phase!

Phase 3: Reconstruction.
Now comes the professional work! After a really hard filtering process, 70 houses were chosen and form now a priority list. These will be the target houses the Order wishes to cover fully. So how does it work? Well, it starts with choosing 10 houses as a sample, going to each one with contractors, assessing the work needed to be done and waiting for their reply. Their cost-study per house will give us an idea of how many houses out of the 70 we’ll be able to cover. Once the waiting is over, professionals accompanied by some volunteers will start reconstructing and renewing the homes of the victim, not forgetting the support teams that made sure to lift up the spirits of these families by handing out flowers and simply by talking and listening to them. After all, the most important thing one can do is simply show love and support, something our volunteers do naturally and perfectly! Our love for the people is big enough to fill the hole left in our port, and the Order helps us show it!

Cloe Hajjar, Lebanese volunteer

Nous vivons dans un monde où toutes les valeurs disparaissent. Cela me fait grand plaisir de voir encore des jeunes qui donnent de leur temps pour aider les invités à passer des moments inoubliables, en organisant diverses activités et sorties. Ils leur font vivre des moments uniques, et surtout ils sont entourés par beaucoup d’amour et de respect. Cela leur permet de s’oublier pour quelque temps en vivant des expériences extraordinaires.
Merci encore aux Jeunes de l’Ordre de Malte, ils font un travail remarquable et donnent de leur temps avec beaucoup de dévouement.

Zeina Boustany, témoignage de parent de volontaire

1. Introduce yourself.
Hello, my name is Marina Makhlouf, I’m 26 and I just graduated with a master degree in psychomotor therapy.

2. How did you hear about the Youth?
I was working in a coffee shop and bumped into a childhood friend that I hadn’t seen for years. While catching up, she talked to me about the Chabrouh camp she was going to attend a few weeks later. She got excited and told me how amazing it was and that she had been attending it for years. After a while, she just asked me: Would you come? With what you do, you’re going to love it… I, unexpectedly, told her I’d love too, though I was not very comfortable to do so. It all started this way, just by opening doors to new opportunities, and it is, until today, always an amazing moment I spend.

3. What is your best memory?
Mmmm… it’s hard to pick one! My first camp (Dutch camp) or the first downie camp!
Ok the downie camp. Downies are FULL OF ENERGY.

4. The Youth in one word:
Love, laughter, friendship and happiness (je n’arrive pas à choisir le plus beau ! 🙄)

5. What makes you come back to our activities?
What makes me come back are the guests / the diversity in activities and the self-reward. Each camp or activity brings me new friendships and love.

1. Introduce yourself.
Je m’appelle Lara Bou Chebl. J’ai 25 ans et je suis une jeune architecte dynamique passionnée par l’art et l’architecture. J’ai une sœur jumelle avec qui je partage « doublethatfood », notre page Instagram de food blogging.

2. How did you hear about the Youth?
J’avais des amis volontaires à l’Ordre de Malte, et j’ai toujours voulu aider. Ainsi je me suis inscrite, et ma toute première activité était à l’hôpital de la Croix avec les personnes handicapées.

3. What is your best memory?
Mon meilleur souvenir remonte à mon premier jour avec l’Ordre où un des volontaires à qui j’ai offert mon bracelet m’a offert un chapelet qu’il a fait lui-même.

4. The Youth in one word:
En un mot : Espoir.

5. What makes you come back to our activities?
Voir le sourire sur le visage des guests me pousse à revenir aux activités, sans oublier la bonne humeur et la joie de vivre des jeunes.

May is the holy month to honor the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and there was no better way to honor Her than through the Rosary. The Youth of the Order of Malta organized a Rosary prayer lead by Father Antoine Assaf, chaplain of the Order of Malta, at Saint Elie Church gardens and broadcasted it live through the Facebook official page. The attendees respected all safety measures and only 8 persons were allowed to attend physically. The need to have a spiritual event during COVID-19 lockdown to keep their faith was crucial. Let us all unite our prayers hoping for better days.

Every year, Father’s Day is an amazing opportunity for children to acknowledge and appreciate their fathers and father figures, who play an important role in their lives, be it emotionally, mentally or even financially. It is a day where children get to give back to the men that spent so much from themselves raising them.

Unfortunately, life sometimes gets in the way, and not everyone is able to give back in the manner they would want to. With the increasingly challenging financial situation in Lebanon, this becomes a reality most families have to face. It becomes our duty, and not just a pleasure, to make a small contribution to families in need, and put a smile on the faces of fathers and their children, on that special day.

On a sunny Saturday, the 19th of June, the volunteers of the Youth of the Order of Malta visited multiple vulnerable families, and offered them special homemade cakes celebrating the dads. It was a very special thing to see faces lighting up, with the fathers feeling valued for all their hard work and children happy to finally be able to celebrate, just like any other family.
One of the most special things about this activity is that each cake was personally made by a volunteer with the name of the each father written on it. As opposed to having store bought and only carrying the monetary value, these cakes also carried a lot of love that was poured into their making. And that is much more valuable than any amount of money you can spend.

Giving back to the community is more than just the material things you can offer. Time and effort are what is most valuable, and I am grateful I had the opportunity to do so.

Marita Yaghi, Lebanese volunteer

C’est avec de grands sourires et dans une ambiance joviale, malgré les circonstances compliquées, que des familles de la région de Nabaa ont reçu des « Suhoor meals » mercredi 13 mai.

Les Jeunes de l’Ordre de Malte ainsi que l’association « Who is Hussein » ont tenu à perpétuer leur tradition annuelle de collaborer pour offrir un repas aux plus démunis pendant la période du Ramadan. Si se réunir a malheureusement été impossible en raison de la pandémie, les deux parties ont fait preuve de créativité et ont décidé de remplacer l’iftar annuel par une distribution de paquets contenant les aliments consommés pendant le Suhoor, qui ont été remplis et distribués en respectant évidemment les mesures de sécurité et de distanciation sociale.

Répandre de l’amour et des pensées positives a été une mission réussie pour les Jeunes et « Who is Hussein », pour qui collaborer et faire preuve d’un vivre ensemble et d’une grande solidarité face à l’adversité est une mission à ne pas manquer.

Laeticia Rached, volontaire libanaise

Following the success of our polo last year, we decided to add a hoodies that our volunteers can wear during cold nights in Chabrouh! The purpose is to develop a growing Youth community by reinforcing their belonging to the order of malta. Customizing a hoodie to the youth is a great way of spreading our action.

8 volunteers with a background in design prepared a sketch of their vison of the youth service. We launched a competition and asked our volunteers to vote for their favorite design. The competition was a great way to involve our volunteers. The winner of the competition was Nour Chlela! Special thanks to our candidates for their time and creativity they put in this project!

Our volunteers from Saint Joseph University created an Instagram page so they can share different activities and raise awareness about disabilities. The USJ Club, created in 2017, aims at recruiting new volunteers dedicated to the Order’s mission. Our USJ team has already been very active on campus, organizing Down Syndrome awareness day, Christmas and iftar events in collaboration with other USJ Clubs as the music club and masquerade ball for cerebral palsy children. The page is also aligned with the university page “Vie étudiante” where all clubs share their different projects and ideas. The page on Instagram will help the club communicate its various activities to the students and stay active on social media for the new generation.

Name of the page on Instagram: clubjeunesordremalte.usj

Given the current circumstances Lebanon and the world are going through, all of The Youth of the Order of Malta activities, such as camps and gatherings, were put on hold. However, the volunteers couldn’t stop thinking about all the children, elders and families they constantly brought happiness to. This is why the Youth organized a crafting activity through which volunteers prepared and designed boxes that were later on filled with candies and delivered to the kids of the SOS Village of Kfarhay in Batroun.

Despite the fact that it was an activity to do from a distance and that involved no physical contact with the kids, I really enjoyed making the boxes for the three children I was assigned to. I couldn’t help but wonder what their reactions would be once they see the boxes, and the feelings of surprise and happiness it would bring to them. Also, it had been a long time since I did something that required creativity and working with my own hands. I was actually able to translate what was on my mind into personalized boxes for Charbel, Maria-Thérèse and Hanneh. I realized how much I missed working meticulously and with my heart to draw a smile on someone’s face. Cutting the cardboards, gluing some parts and adding ribbons reminded me of how we used to decorate the center as we arrived to Chabrouh before the guests. It brought back the hurry and enthusiasm I always had to lighten up the mood of the guests, brighten the atmosphere and pray for them.

Frankly, I believe it was a nice gesture to let the kids know that we are still thinking about them, but eventually it is different than our usual activities. For instance, I would have loved to see their faces, listen to their voices and laughs while opening the boxes and discovering the candies in them. I truly hope I will be able to do it soon and I continuously pray for Lebanon and the world to overcome this frustrating phase.

A total of 20 volunteers participated in that activity. I could still feel the generous spirit and the joy that is always present in a volunteering action. Even though we were not physically together, everyone was sharing tips, sharing their boxes and progress, encouraging each other, and it felt really nice, like we were all part of this whole process. However, we are learning to look at volunteering from a new perspective: working to do something for others in times like these, sharing it with our volunteer friends, and anticipating the reaction of the receivers, I think that’s what makes it a great experience.

Nour Cattouf & Maria Abou Farhat, Lebanese Volunteers