Lebanon (MNN) — Poverty has more than tripled in Lebanon over the past decade, according to the latest World Bank report. The percentage of people living below the poverty line surged from 12 percent in 2012 to 44 percent in 2022.
Heart for Lebanon’s focus used to be primarily on refugees, but today, both the Lebanese and refugee populations need a helping hand.
(Photo courtesy of Heart for Lebanon)
“Christ’s heart breaks and aches for every injustice in this world, for the living conditions that the refugees have, and problems that the local Lebanese have,” Heart for Lebanon co-founder Camille Melki says.
“This is why Heart for Lebanon does not differentiate between a local and a refugee. We provide aid equally to both communities.”
Plenty of groups offer aid, but each one has an ulterior motive.
“Every political party in Lebanon has a humanitarian arm to influence and control the individuals they serve,” Melki explains. “They provide them with aid, but they control how they think, plan, and vote.”
Heart for Lebanon serves like Jesus. “Everything we provide is provided unconditionally – food packages, blankets or warm clothing, medical clinics – every attempt to touch the life of a local or a refugee is given unconditionally, but we also want to give it in a meaningful way,” Melki explains.
“We want to make sure that the Gospel is shared openly and boldly with those who want to hear it.”
Find ways to help through Heart for Lebanon here.
Lebanon’s society is an “ethnically, religiously, politically divided culture. But that shouldn’t be the same or true for the Church. The Church should offer the alternative,” Melki says.
“The Church should give us a preview of what heaven looks like, and this is what Heart for Lebanon is trying to do. We are reaching out to the Arabs and the Kurds, the Lebanese and the Syrians, to individuals who come from a Muslim background or a traditional Christian background. [As a result,] God is painting a beautiful mosaic of what heaven looks like.”
Header and story images courtesy of Heart for Lebanon.
