Marie-Françoise Borel, International Federation
The president of the Lebanese Red Cross, Sheikh Sami Al Dahda, who was in Geneva this week to attend the statutory meetings of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, answered some questions about his vision for the future of his National Society.
How would you describe the current humanitarian situation in Lebanon? Are there many displaced people in the country?
We are in a very unusual situation. There are displaced people who arrived illegally from Iraq, and others, a minority, who come from Egypt and other neighbouring countries to look for work. We also have displaced Palestinians who have settled in various regions. Most of the Lebanese displaced by the hostilities in 2006 have returned to their homes, but there still remains a minority who have not been able to return.
However, we also have a new group of displaced people from the Nahr el-Bared camp near Tripoli, in northern Lebanon, which was destroyed during the fighting in June this year. They number 30,000 people – 5,000 Palestinian and Lebanese families – to whom we are distributing food aid and hygiene articles in collaboration with UNICEF. We are also providing them with health information.
During the hostilities in and around the camp, the Lebanese Red Cross took care of the sick and the injured, and worked in close collaboration with the Palestine Red Crescent Society. We are now working with the Iraqi Red Crescent Society, which we have contacted to help us provide assistance to displaced Iraqis. We still don’t have any figures for the number of displaced Iraqis as they are too dispersed.
Most displaced Iraqis live with friends or relatives, who try to help them and who then come to us to ask for help. Unfortunately, the Lebanese Red Cross cannot help all the families. What concerns us most of all are health problems; they have free access to Red Cross clinics, but it is difficult to get them into hospital.
What is your main concern at the moment?
Our priority is to protect peoples’ lives. We are in an ongoing conflict that has never ceased; the war comes from both inside and outside the country. The future is uncertain. As well its usual work, our National Society is alone in providing first aid and in transporting the injured, thanks to our ambulance service. There’s a lot to do!
We are very active in the sociomedical and psychosocial field; our main concern is to help the handicapped and the elderly. In addition, the Lebanese Red Cross runs the only blood bank in the country; we organize the collection and the initial testing of the blood.
We currently have three groups of volunteers. Firstly, around 2,000 adults make up the large regional committees and governance. Then, the youth is split into two groups: on the one hand, we have the first-aid and emergency care unit (around 2,500 first-aid workers) while, on the other, 1,500 young people are involved in the special youth programme, the AIDS campaign, assistance to the handicapped and the elderly, the distribution of food aid, and health.
What is your vision for the role of young people in the Red Cross?
My vision is to create and train the youth for peace and not simply to carry out specific charitable activities; this is not what is lacking. We have to motivate them and train the youth to work for peace. Simple charity work – this is very far from Henry Dunant’s vision.
I would like to lead my National Society in the direction of Henry Dunant’s work and his vision for peace. We talk only about charity and training. Many organizations already do charity work, but no one carries it out in accordance with the principles of the Red Cross.
I encourage the work of the youth. I provide them with an outline of what needs to be done and tell them to go ahead and prepare their projects. I simply advise them. They are satisfied with that, they are concerned and, believe me, they’re not short of an opinion!
What, in your view, is the significance of climate change and are you ready to engage in efforts to combat it?
What peace can there be when we are harming the planet? For us to have peace, people need somewhere to live. There is a notion that says it is not just the grown-ups that teach the children. We can also teach the grown-ups through the children. A child can teach its parents how to protect nature. For example, a young boy or girl can put pressure on their father, who drives the car, to pollute less by driving less or by getting it repaired.
How do you see the future for the Lebanese Red Cross?
That depends on the country’s political situation. I have confidence in the Red Cross volunteers; we’re not short of planning or effort from the volunteers, and we continue to move forward. What we’re lacking is finance. The country is running on empty. We are like a well-designed machine: finely tuned and ready – the only thing that’s missing is the petrol to get it going.
Have the wounds of 2006 healed?
Among all the negative points, there is a very positive aspect that I have noted since the summer of 2006, and that’s the cooperation between the different elements of the Movement. But the psychological wounds remain. The economic failure of the country and of its families has had very serious repercussions. Everything is expensive, like fuel for example.
We are still at the stage where not everyone has yet reacted to what happened. The worst is yet to come, especially for those who can’t afford to buy cans of oil for heating, or food. First and foremost, we need food aid for the whole population – not just for the displaced.