Beirut on my mind
I wonder what it must be like right now.
Lebanon has always been a special place for me. Growing up in Haiti, I had quite a few Lebanese friends [highly unsual, given the country's population lanscape and location]; they used to tell me stories about the war in the 80's and why their family emigrated from there all the way to places like Brasil, Australia, Quebec, Ivory Coast, Michigan and even Haiti [there is a substantial community of Lebanese and Syrian in Haiti, out of all places!]. Went to Beirut for the first time 3 months ago. It was sad to realize the eternal effects that war has on a country and its people. I grew up hearing Beirut being compared to as the Paris of the middle east [back then it was the financial hub of the region, Bahrain took over in the last decade]. Being there, I was pleased to see that old Beirut was just starting to get back on its feet, with substantial investments from Saudi and Kuwait, and the re-structuring of the tourism industry.
After so many years of hardship and rebuilding, it seems that within a matter of days...it's all out the window. But hopefully not for long. Right chris? Nis?
Large Lebanese diasporas are to be found in the least expected places. The largest expatriot community in Nigeria are Lebanese and they've been around for close to half a century...
Posted by Surya Swamy | 6:22 PM