Despite ongoing airstrikes, a religious sister has decided to stay in the monastery of St. Joseph in Ain Ebel, southern Lebanon, just five kilometres from the Israeli border, to accompany the Christian community. “There are still some 9,000 Christians here in three different villages. We are in constant danger,” reports Sr Maya El Beaino of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. “There is no hospital in the area, no Red Cross, and we have only three hours of electricity a day. That means: no internet, no water!”
In recent months, the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has provided medical help to 500 people who, despite the danger, have remained in Ain Ebel. It has also provided food parcels to thousands of needy families in southern Lebanon.
During the phone call with ACN, explosions could be heard in the background. “In the last two weeks they have increased a lot,” said Sr Maya, who despite the danger has remained alone in her convent to stand with the local people.
In Rmeich, there are two other religious communities on site. Their presence is a comfort to those, who despite the bombardments, wanted to stay in their home area. “Everyone talks about the people who have fled because of the attacks, but no-one speaks about the many Christians who have stayed, because they are afraid of losing their homes for ever,” said the religious sister. “It’s true that many left the region at the beginning of the Gaza war in October 2023, but many families have come back to their homes, because life in Beirut was too expensive and many could not bear the separation from the fathers who had remained alone back in the South.”
St Joseph’s Convent runs one of the Catholic schools in the region and teaches children from 32 surrounding villages. Because of the continuing violence, however, the face-to-face teaching had to be interrupted. “They saw how Israel attacked two schools in Gaza. The children were not safe here,” said Sr Maya, who is also headteacher of the school.
“The situation is simply terrible. People are still carrying trauma from the war in 2006 and there is a big fear that bridges and roads will be bombed again – especially now that a ground invasion is being spoken about.”
ACN is calling for urgent prayer for the people of southern Lebanon, for the victims of the war and the refugees, and for an end to the violence. “We ask that the ‘God of all comfort’ may hear our prayers,” said Regina Lynch, executive president of ACN, “and that His love and compassion may touch the hearts of the warring parties, to inspire them to find peaceful solutions, so that justice and reconciliation may reign in the whole of the Holy Land and beyond.”
By Sina Hartert.
