DIASPORA MOBILISES IN WAKE OF BLAST
Lebanon’s diaspora, estimated at nearly three times the size of the tiny country’s population of five million, has stepped up to provide assistance following the massive explosion that laid waste to the capital Beirut.
Lebanese expats rushed to wire money to loved ones who lost their homes or were injured in the blast on Tuesday that killed at least 113 people, while others worked to create special funds to address the tragedy.
“I’ve been on the phone all morning with... our partners in order to put together an alliance for an emergency fund in light of the explosion,” said George Akiki, co-founder and CEO of Lebnet, a non-profit based in California’s Silicon Valley that helps Lebanese professionals in the United States and Canada. “Everyone, both Lebanese and non-lebanese, wants to help.”
Akiki said his group, along with other organisations such as SEAL and Life Lebanon, have set up Beirut Emergency Fund 2020, which will raise much-needed money and channel it to safe and reputable organisations in Lebanon. “As a first step, my wife Hala and I will match at least $10,000 in donations and later on we will provide more help towards rebuilding and other projects,” Habib Haddad, a tech entrepreneur and member of Lebnet based in Boston, Massachusetts, said.
He said many fellow compatriots are doing the same, channelling their grief and anger towards helping their stricken homeland, which before the blast was already reeling from a deep economic and political crisis that has left more than half the population living in poverty.
“They’re asking Lebanese emigrants around the world to try and help,” said Maroun Daccache, owner of a Lebanese restaurant in Sao Paulo, Brazil, a country that has an estimated seven million people of Lebanese descent.
Expats also usually visit home every summer, injecting muchneeded cash into the economy. But the diaspora this year has largely been absent because of the COVID-19 pandemic and many have become increasingly sceptical and reluctant to send aid to a country where corruption is widespread and permeates all levels of society. — AFP