So I’ve made it to Lebanon, my brother has become a father and I’ve become an uncle to a beautiful young lady called Emily who I look forward to meeting on my return home from my time in the middle east. I was hoping I’d be in the middle east when Emily was born so that some day I can tell her all about my time away traveling when she was born.
Today i visited some of the sights in lebanon which were very interesting but the most interesting part of today was visiting some of the refugee camps situated outside Beirut. It’s strange to go from a very bustling city were people take life to an excess as far as drink and drugs are concerned to an area where people have lost everything and are trying to rebuild. The camp is no longer tents and starving people but more buildings where people have built homes and businesses to try and leave there personal problems behind but are struggling to integrate into a society where they aren’t exactly wanted or respected. Some of the people living there are second generation refugees with no end in sight of the struggles that plight them.
Some day we might see a resolution of their problems but only time will tell. The situation in this country is something most people will only read about but to see it first hand is very different. While visiting ruins at Baalbeck their was a shrine to the hezbolalh. This shrine was very interesting to see but allowed me to see why troubles in Lebanon were a long way away from resolution. When you have things like this it continues to breed mistrust between nations and reminds me of the situation in northern ireland. I’m looking forward to moving on to Jordon and seeing Petra and leaving Lebanon.