great tastes. great stories.
Returning to the village to bury their father, the 3 hour journey from Beirut to the southern border was a courageous decision. Only 36 hours before setting off, Israel had bombed southern Lebanon overnight, leaving residents in Nabatieh, Sour (Tyre) and the surrounding villages fearful. “We couldn’t leave our father in the makeshift cemetery in the suburbs of Beirut, he needed to go to his final resting place” said Maya, the eldest of the children. Braving the uncertain situation, the journey had to be made.
In a normal Lebanon, a funeral happens the day after someone passes away. But Lebanon hasn’t been normal in a long while. The collapse of the economy in 2019, the Beirut port explosion in 2020, the earthquakes in 2023 and then the repercussions from October 7th have taken a huge toll on this tiny country. For many even the dignity of a funeral has been denied them. Maya’s father would have to wait before he could be buried in his village.
The unexpected death of Maya’s father came after a gruelling 5 months. In the middle of the night she had to move herself and her elderly father into a friend’s apartment away from the Israeli attacks. Maya continued going to work in Beirut some 40 minutes away, leaving her father alone in a flat all day in a completely new neighbourhood with no friends or family around. Grateful for the job, working for an NGO in Beirut wasn’t without its own stress. Registering families forcibly displaced from the South, and reassuring refugees in the camp where she worked who were frightened by missile attacks and evacuation notices was anything but a regular job.
Even with the “ceasefire” Maya still had to get special permission for the burial to take place. Her last visit to their village had been in September 2023. Like so many others, Maya lives and works in Beirut but their father wanted to be buried in his village. Before 2019 her savings (now non-existent because of the collapse of the banks) had gone into making a home there to retire to. Many in this community are not party to this conflict, not politically active nor a threat to anyone. But as a result of being born in villages or in certain areas of Beirut, have become victims of Israel’s unforgivable violence.
On the journey to their father’s burial, a villager on a motorbike lead them to the cemetery. Since all landmarks and tarmac are no longer in place to guide them this is necessary. Before arriving despite having been told that their village was flattened by Israeli tanks and explosives, Maya had hung on to a desperate hope that their house might have survived. But it wasn’t to be. “You can’t believe the destruction” she said, “you can’t see from the video the true damage”. Houses flattened, no tarmac, no life, no water, no electricity. Many in the village are from the older generation, they farm despite the complications of being on the border. They are deeply attached to their land. The olive trees and tobacco fields surrounding the village, bore witness to the violence and are no longer. As one farmer pointed out to Samer el Khoury who visited the area recently, rebuilding his house might take a couple of years, but “How can I grow 35 year old trees again? I am 64 years old.”
Maya wanted to share her story, knowing that many in Lebanon have experienced the same thing. Innocent victims whose lives have been altered by Israel’s attacks were already suffering due to the economic collapse in the country.
