What if we reciprocated this with goodness and giving? This shows the mutual benefit of environmental activities that contribute to bringing together individuals and creating an atmosphere of friendliness among them.
The divisions created by wars are healed by nature!
In our materialistic world where evil prevails, it is no wonder that nature is the mediator and meeting place. Today, it is the best mediator between warring parties divided along political lines and brought together by the love of nature. Our Lebanon, which carries the burden of wars and woes historically, has a geography that does justice to it with unique weather and a picturesque nature. The latter is a warm bosom for those weary of the memory of the Lebanese civil war, and their inspiration on the path of peace, hence they established the Fighters for Peace NGO to this end in 2014. The founders, ex-fighters in the Lebanese civil war, were affiliated to various political parties involved in the war. They found out that there is no salvation through violence, so they adopted the slogan “Violence does not bring about the solution” and set it as a goal. To reach this goal, the ex-fighters hold frank and reconciliation sessions for wartime parties in an attempt to build solid peace bridges. There is no doubt that nature is the best place to release negative energy and the fighting spirit that characterize such sessions. Founding member Badri Abu Diab states that the most successful dialogues were held in natural settings. He recalls an interesting nature walk done by members last year, which brought together young people from the new generation and ex-fighters. This walk took on an exploration character for the then former military positions in natural settings, while roadblocks and military equipment still reflect the reality of war. Abu Diab describes this encounter as successful interactive, as it brought together young people affiliated with warring parties and pointed to them the historical significance of the place. Commenting on the impact of the walk on him, Abu Diab said, “I am familiar with this area in both ways, first as a military commander who visited it to choose military sites, and second as a fighter for peace who uses it to hold a friendly and fruitful dialogue.” He added saying, “It is wrong to say that history repeats itself, since I am an ex-fighter who sees this area through the eyes of beauty, after it was for me a military position that witnessed horrors and tragedies.” From a broad perspective, Abu Diab believes that the geographical nature of Lebanon has forced the conflicting parties to deal with each other at the economic, commercial and touristic levels, which does away with the divisive terms previously used, such as eastern and western Beirut, as well as other terms.
In addition, the youth NGO members are seeking to transform some areas that used to be demarcation lines into forests to compensate for the distortion of nature during the war. It is worth mentioning that the NGO cooperates with various actors, such as schools and universities, to further expand its scope of influence with a view to addressing the new generation and raising its awareness of the importance of peace and the renunciation of violence. The NGO also cooperates with local, as well as with international supportive actors, to benefit from their expertise in this area and create a nucleus of youth fighters for peace. Nature does not bring together bad people, but rather good ones all the time.
The natural landscape of Kfarmatta embraces the locals
Environmental and sports activities also have a positive impact on relationships, as they enhance the chances of bringing together individuals from warring backgrounds. Kfarmatta village carries the burden of wartime tragedies and massacres, but youth groups insist on turning the dark and bloody page reminiscent of that period, with the aim of restoring life to the village with the support of nature. A good example is offered by the targeted environmental and sports activities performed today by the Kfarmatta Association for Development and Charity. In a conversation with the association activist Lara El-Deeb, she explained to us the content and importance of these activities, since the association usually implements hiking initiatives in the mountains, in addition to biking, nature walks and other interesting recreational activities. In light of this, these activities attract more than one hundred people per week and bring together the townspeople of all age groups and religious backgrounds. It is worth mentioning that these activities sometimes take on a national character through the participation of sports clubs and individuals from different Lebanese areas, regardless of divisions foremerly caused by regional and sectarian conflicts involving co-citizens. In addition to the above, the NGO organizes walks to heritage and archaeological sites of the town and conducts specialized training workshops on agriculture, afforestation, waste treatment, and other environmental projects in cooperation with local and international actors. All these activities would create in the youth a sense of belonging to a rural community, enhance their attachment to the land, and raise their awareness of the importance of preserving the environmental, health and psychological benefits derived from enjoying nature and its bounty. In this context, El-Deeb noted the strong interest of the youth in these activities, and their marked tendency to cultivate the land and explore nature. These activities are today a nurturing environment for these young people of different communities and affiliations in friendly and peaceful atmosphere, thus offering them the possibility of achieving sound social integration on the basis of cooperation, harmony and love.
Cleaning the coastline is no longer boring!
Historically, nature is the primary soul mate for humans. Whenever people are thrown into confusion in their material environment, they spontaneously go back to nature where they meditate, regain their tranquility and have their inhibited inspiration awakened. This poetic state still dominates nature lovers who see in it the best companion and derive from it their energy to keep walking. The experience of Nabil Aouad is a remarkable example of the friendly relationship between humans and nature. After Aouad spent his prime abroad where he lost one of his lungs due to cancer, he returned to Lebanon to embrace the ocean with the remaining lung. In response to his passion, he was warned of losing his only lung because of water pollution, but he defiantly decided to clean up the coastline in order to able to swim. Three years ago, Aouad and Lisa Sofian founded the Swim Initiative association and launched a massive environmental campaign under the slogan “Bahrak Elak” (the sea is yours) with the goal of cleaning up the Lebanese coastline, after which they had a good time with the participants following the task fulfilment. This campaign started last year on August 21 in Naqoura and ended on September 3 in Tripoli, with 14 coastlines cleaned up in between. What distinguishes this gathering is the diverse sectarian and regional background of the participants, and even their different specializations that helped ahcieve the goal of the campaign. They included environmentalists, professional divers and influencers, united by their love for nature and exploration, and bringing together their good intentions in a collaborative framework and an atmosphere of friendliness and love. Aouad said, “We started the task with 40 and completed it with 2,700 participants,” a figure that is hard to reach in environmental activities. Apart from that, Lisa told us about a large-scale project that will be soon initiated and will combine environmental and sports activities in a number of geographical locations, each to be cleaned by one of the competing teams. These initiatives provide important evidence that environmental culture has begun to spread in Lebanese society, though on a small scale, but its role will of course increase significantly in the coming years.
A perfect escape from corona
All sectors are weakened by the global pandemic, contrary to environmental activities which have acquired greater importance and attracted more participants. With the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, nature has embraced visitors yearning for safety. People of all ages have found in nature the safe and ideal breathing space, away from the fear caused by the viral infection, a fact that Lara El-Deeb stressed on the basis of the NGO experience. Even the frank and reconciliation meetings with the Fighters for Peace were more successful when held in Mother Nature. The latter can, on its own, dissipate negative energy and create an atmosphere of friendliness and safety.
Badri Abu Diab spoke to us about his personal experience which reflects the situation of many city residents by saying, “The spread of the pandemic gave me an opportunity to go back to my country home where I spent most of my time contemplating God’s creation and its beauty. Thus, I found inner peace and relieved my stress and anxiety arising from the pandemic and living conditions.” The presentation of such experiences in this context confirms the validity of the saying, “The coronavirus has defeated the world, but nature has defeated it.”
Natural calamities bring us together
Even natural calamities bring people together rather than keeping them apart. This is what we witnessed during the eruption of the Labouneh fires in Naqoura last summer. Civil Defense member Ali Melhem told us about the tremendous efforts made to extinguish the fire. Young people from different areas rushed to offer support, and the mayors of municipalities in surrounding villages promplty offered their services and lent a helping hand in this catastrophe. International bodies in the area were also among the first to assist, as the “UNIFIL” has modern equipment and teams specialized in extinguishing forest fires. The operation lasted for many hours, and finally managed, thanks to all efforts, to control the flames that had consumed more than 40 acres of oak trees. Based on that, it was necessary to reforest the burned area. In fact, oak trees were replanted in Labouneh, with the fruitful cooperation between the local community and the international financial providers. All this can be placed within the framework of “responding to the call of nature.” If it calls, its lovers rush to respond to the call.
To conclude, there is no room for evil in nature’s jargon, as humans agree on loving it despite all their differences. More importantly, it is not only a mediator in human relationships, but also the image of the Creator on earth and our connection to Him. If we commune with it individually or in groups, in peace or in war, we will find ourselves in its warm bosom. So, let us affirm our initial agreement: it is Mother Nature, a tender mother who only gives plenty of good and does not require anything in return from her children!