An educator in Lebanon. Photo: International Orthodox Christian Charities
LOUISVILLE – In the midst of the chaos that has been the norm in Lebanon over the years, clergy and caregivers have been the least likely group to take time and renew.
“They care for thousands and thousands of people,” said the Rev. Kathleen Angi, a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission co-worker based in Hungary and a psychosocial counselor assigned to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA). “They are exhausted.”
“In order … for Lebanon to continue, its people need to recover,” she said.
Steps toward that recovery process, and the foundation for what is expected to be an ongoing effort, were made May 25-June 8 at Davidson College in North Carolina.
A group of nine Lebanese representing the various church families — Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Protestant and Oriental Orthodox — gathered to refresh and renew as part of the Lebanon Care Program.
Held at the Davidson Clergy Center and with money from PDA, a member of Action by Churches Together (ACT), the program evolved out of the emergency response effort following the July 2006 conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
The immediate response to the crisis in Lebanon included tangibles like food, blankets and heaters, but needs also were apparent in the more intangible area of psychosocial care.
Angi and representatives from two other ACT member organizations worked with the Inter-Church Network for Development & Relief (ICNDR) in Lebanon, the emergency response unit of the Middle East Council of Churches, to outline a psychosocial care program for those affected. The Lebanon Care Program is a component of that effort.
“The purpose of the visit to the Davidson Clergy Center is to provide the opportunity for clergy and care providers to recover their strength, focus and energy so that they can resume their responsibilities in caring for Lebanon’s people, and to explore the feasibility of using this program as a model,” said a press release from the Davidson gathering.
Included in the group’s time together were morning prayers, physical training, clinical assessments, counseling and spiritual guidance and weekend outings.
The program provides “a time where you are listened to,” Angi said. It’s a time where there is laughter, prayer and fellowship, and “where people will hug you when you need it,” she added.
“The first week we were told to forget everything and to concentrate on ourselves,” said Suad Hajj Nassif, director of ICNDR. “That was very helpful for me.”
Also helpful was the chance for participants to talk about their worries and to “share them with some new people that we didn’t know,” she said. “It was very serious work.”
Now the plan is for the group to “do a similar kind of thing for other church leaders in Lebanon,” Angi said.
PDA is providing $50,000 to get the Lebanon-based effort off the ground, and the group cared for at Davidson will take the lead in moving things forward. Eventually the program, which is projected to work with small groups of five people at a time, should be self-sustaining, Angi said.
Nassif said in addition to clergy, the program will target “care providers” in Lebanon — people like hospital workers, social workers and teachers. “And, we will try to focus on women,” she said.
“The most important thing is to see how we can tailor this to match the Lebanese culture and mentality,” said Nassif. “It’s a very new idea.”
In the short-term, the program will “help people to express their needs,” she said. And long term it will “help people to grow more into the healing part and renewal.” |
