Hundreds of Lebanese Muslims who had taken refuge in Lebanese Baptist institutions said goodbye to their hosts Aug. 17. Meanwhile Lebanese Christian leaders continued to care for refugees still in Beirut. As a cease-fire took hold in the monthlong conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, hundreds of refugees who had fled the fighting for the relative safety of Christian parts of Beirut began to leave the Beirut Baptist School.
In an Aug. 17 update with the title “Uneasy Peace,” leaders of the umbrella organization that runs the school and nearby Arab Baptist Theological Seminary (ABTS) said the departure was bittersweet.
“[O]ur more than 750 visitors for the past month or so have left. The farewell between the children, youth, women on the one hand and our team members on the other was at times quite emotional,” the update from the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development said. It noted that the handful of other refugee families staying at the seminary “who come from the southern villages are still cautious preferring to remain at ABTS for a few more days.”
In addition, Lebanese and other Baptist personnel in Beirut continued to go to refugee centers near the schools, leading activity programs to occupy displaced women and children.
At the conflict’s height, Lebanese Baptist officials estimated that approximately 800 refugees were staying at the two schools, located in the Christian parts of Beirut. Many of the displaced families are Shiite Muslims who came from hard-hit Hezbollah strongholds in southern and eastern Lebanon and Beirut’s Shia-dominated southern suburbs. International Baptist relief workers, including a medical team from Hungarian Baptist Aid and church groups from the United States, have provided other services to the refugees.
The release also noted that, because of the cease-fire and the refugees’ departure, both institutions would begin the 2006–2007 academic year Sept. 25.
But news reports Aug. 16 indicated that the United Nations-brokered cease-fire was still exceedingly fragile.
Despite the fragile nature of the cease-fire and the horror of the conflict — in which hundreds of Lebanese civilians and a handful of Israeli civilians were killed — Lebanese Baptist leaders reported positive news.
The practice of Baptists providing activities for Muslim women and children may not end with the conflict, the leaders wrote. “Our teams are receiving repeated requests that we hold similar programs in the areas of origin of our displaced friends,” they said. “God willing, these are the beginning of new and fruitful interactive relationships between Christians and [Muslims]. May God be glorified in the process.” (ABP)
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