{"id":1402,"date":"2020-11-24T09:10:53","date_gmt":"2020-11-24T06:10:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lebanon.givingtuesday.me\/?p=1402"},"modified":"2020-11-24T10:44:25","modified_gmt":"2020-11-24T07:44:25","slug":"abandoned-by-state-after-explosion-lebanese-help-each-other","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lebanon.givingtuesday.me\/kindness\/abandoned-by-state-after-explosion-lebanese-help-each-other\/","title":{"rendered":"Abandoned by state after explosion, Lebanese help each other"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Image: University students who volunteered to help clean damaged homes and give other assistance, pass in front of a building that was damaged by last week\u2019s explosion, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020. The explosion that tore through Beirut left around a quarter of a million people with homes unfit to live in. But there are no collective shelters, or people sleeping in public parks. That\u2019s because in the absence of the state, residents of Beirut opened their homes to relatives, friends and neighbors. Hussein Malla, Associated Press)<\/p>\n

In the southern Lebanese town of Haris, a newlywed couple is living in one of Safy Faqeeh\u2019s apartments for free. He\u2019s never met them before, and they aren\u2019t on a honeymoon. Their apartment in Beirut was wrecked when last week\u2019s massive explosion wreaked destruction across the capital.<\/p>\n

Faqeeh is one of hundreds of Lebanese who have opened their homes to survivors of the Aug. 4 blast.<\/p>\n

The explosion, which was centered on Beirut\u2019s port and ripped across the capital, left around a quarter of a million people with homes unfit to live in. But they have not had to crowd into collective shelters or sleep in public parks.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because in the absence of the state, Lebanese have stepped up to help each other.<\/p>\n

Some have let relatives, friends and neighbors stay with them. Others like Faqeeh extended a helping hand even farther, taking to social media to spread the word that they have a room to host people free of charge.<\/p>\n

The couple saw Faqeeh\u2019s offer on Facebook for a free apartment he owns in Haris, some 50 miles south of Beirut. They can stay as long as they need to, the 29-year-old Faqeeh said, and he has a second apartment available for anyone else in need. \u201cThis is not help, it is a duty,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When he was a teenager, Faqeeh\u2019s family home was damaged in the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, and they had to stay in a house in Tripoli, clear on the other end of Lebanon. Now he\u2019s paying it forward. \u201cWe have experienced several wars and they (people) hosted us,\u201d Faqeeh said.<\/p>\n

The help that Lebanese are giving goes beyond a place to stay. Armed with helmets and brooms, hundreds of volunteers have circulated through Beirut\u2019s heavily damaged neighborhoods, cleaning up people\u2019s homes and doing free basic repairs, often enough to enable the residents to stay there. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
<\/i> READ FULL ARTICLE<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/center><\/div>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n

\"\" These are the stories that inspire and at the heart of the #GivingTuesdayLebanon campaign; share yours here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Image: University students who volunteered to help clean damaged homes and give other assistance, pass in front of a building that was damaged […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1403,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lebanon.givingtuesday.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lebanon.givingtuesday.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lebanon.givingtuesday.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lebanon.givingtuesday.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lebanon.givingtuesday.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1402"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lebanon.givingtuesday.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1420,"href":"https:\/\/lebanon.givingtuesday.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402\/revisions\/1420"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lebanon.givingtuesday.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lebanon.givingtuesday.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lebanon.givingtuesday.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lebanon.givingtuesday.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}