ROMANIANS IN BEIRUT - Frere Felician

Frere Felician is the only Romanian priest in Lebanon. He's my age, has the face of an angel and speaks Romanian with that Moldovan accent which made me instantly homesick. Frere Felician Tamas graduated Roman Catholic Theology in Roman, a town in Eastern Romania. I found him last November in Saint Antoine de Padoue church in Sin el-Fil, Beirut. Small Franciscan convent where you can find 7 monks, including Brazilian, French and Lebanese.
Frere Felician has been in Lebanon since 2004. God's will, he says. Otherwise he can't explain it. He knew nothing of Lebanon, besides the verses in the Bible and the cedars of Lebanon. Now he's taking Arabic lessons and has conversations with the soldiers guarding the church. He's there for the Lebanese seeking comfort in God's word. Bu the wants to be there for the Romanians in Lebanon and called them to a Easter service last year. Around 30 people came and Frere Felician was happy.
Being in Lebanon made him understand what brought most Christians closer to the church. "You don't see only women and old people in church. You see also the young. They're going through difficult times, they know what suffering is and this is what brought them closer to God ".

DAY 6: FIGHTING CONTINUES IN TRIPOLI

As seen on Beirut Spring blog.

Well, more bad news for me. Fighting again in Tripoli.

At 11.00 am, Naharnet reports, Al-Manar TV, NBN and OTV stopped broadcasting in Tripoli and nearby areas. Naharnet also reports that Arab League sources say the opposition backing Hezbollah had a positive reaction to Arab League leader Moussa’s demand to open the airport road so that the Arab delegation arrives in Beirut through the facility.
I sure hope it says open. At least until next Wednesday morning.

Day 5: Lebanese dare to hope worst is over

The Beirut Daily Star front page headline makes me a bit happier. I woke up this afternoon with a feeling I'm not gonna get to Lebanon next week as I'm supposed to. I got my plane ticket just two days before the fighting began. I see the things started to settle down, people are getting back to work in Beirut which is a good sign. The road to the airport is still blocked, though, but I'm sure they'll clear the way by next Tuesday when I'm supposed to leave.

I hope it's not gonna get worse. Actually at the beginning I thought it was just a one day thing, as it usually is. And it seems quite unreal to see what's happening.

I've been in Lebanon the week Emile Lahoud left the presidency. Everybody was, of course, worried. Army filters every 100 meters on the highway, people being cautious, watching the news and stuff like that. Lahoud left the office on a Friday evening, tried to declare a state of emergency so that the army could take control of the country. Five minutes afterwards on LBC Siniora almost told him "Fuck off! What state of emergency? Get real and get lost!". And it all calmed down.
The second time I were in Lebanon, in February, I found myself on a Sunday afternoon in Saint Michael square in Beirut, in the middle of a protest. I was looking for a Hezbollah flag, a present for Tote, one of my friends. I was stunned to actually find a.... HEZBOLLAH SHOP where they sold coffee cups with Nasrrallah's picture and cheep rose perfume the seller pretended it's Nasrallah's scent.
Anyway, on our way to the shop - cause I was with two friends crazy enough to give me a lift to the southern Beirut - we ran into the protest. The army had just shot a protester a few yards away. And I looked around and I only saw 14-15 year old laughing, jumping around and shouting a lot. My friends translated to me what they were saying. " They're swearing, shouting slogans against the LBC , Lebanese television, and they're also shouting "Jaja has AIDS, Jaja has AIDS!", Bassem told me. "See? This is Lebanese fun at it's best". And at some point the children started jumping again and laughing. "Let's have some fun, let's burn tires!" 8 people were killed that day as far as i remember now. 11 army officers were punished for the shooting. And that was it. People got back to they work.

They didn't even fight on Hariri assassination anniversary. Maybe because Hezbollah was busy burying Imad Moughniyah, the military chief assassinated in Syria.

Until now. I was just thinking the other day. Isn't it funny that the Hezbollah suddenly got very busy on Israel's 60th anniversary?

"HEY, AREN'T WE COOL? WE'RE TAKING TURNS SHOOTING ! "

I can't believe these guys. They're actually having fun. Well, I've been told that this is the "Lebanese fun at its best" but i thought is was a joke. Silly me, I thought fighting might be stressful. But not when you bring a chair in the street, empty your gun and the sit for a while and get some rest, smoke a cigarette and let yourself filmed in action. What do these guys have to defend, huh? They don't really seem convinced of a certain cause, do they? I'm sure they couldn't care less about who's in charge of the government or how many spy cameras the Hezbollah has in the Beirut Airport.
And I'm sure there are guys like these two playing around and killing children without even noticing. Man , these guys deserve to be stripped naked in the center of Beirut and not given permission to go to the bathroom.

AND WHEN I FINALLY GOT THE PLANE TICKET

I have a plane ticket to Beirut. I should leave on May 20. I was very happy about it. Definetly very happy. I got my ticket on Monday, booked the room on Tuesday and on Wednesday they started to fire. Right. Story of my life I said. The fighting between the Hezbollah gunmen and the Hariri's supporters went on and on for foru days. Last night, before I came to work and be unhappy about the reports I had to write on the turmoil in Beirut, Tote, as nice as he usually is, sent me a piece of news. Sunni Al Qaida wants to come destroy Shia Hezbollah. Great, that's just what I need. Al Qaida.
By the time I got to work, the Hezbollah agreed to withdraw from the street and leave them to the army. Great, I said. At least they let the security cheif at the airport have his jpb back with or without the special Hezbollah security cameras. I couldn't care less. I just want that airport to function at least until I get there.
But then, in the morning, at about 5. 30, France Presse served un URGENT. I'm not bothering to translate.

De violents combats faisaient rage dimanche matin à Tripoli, dans le nord du Liban, entre des partisans de la majorité et de l'opposition menée par le Hezbollah, a annoncé à l'AFP un responsable libanais de la sécurité. Plusieurs personnes ont été blessées, a-t-il ajouté, sans autres précisions. Les combats sont concentrés au nord de Tripoli, dans les quartiers de Bab al Tebbaneh, Kobbeh et Jabal Mohsen et "environ 7.000 personnes ont du fuir" ces affrontements, a indiqué le responsable. Des tirs à l'arme lourde, ainsi que des explosions en pleine ville ont été entendus, selon un correspondant de l'AFP.

Guys, please start to fight AFTER I get and answer from LAU, ok? Pf.

THE ROMANIANS IN BEIRUT

This is the first of the stories I shot in Beirut in November last year, a day before president Emile Lahoud steped down from office. Lost of tension, of course.
My Romanians felt the tension and they were afraid the concert they had that week would have been cancelled due to the political crisis. Thre are about 50 Romanians in the Beirut Philarmonic Orchestra. They play every morning in St. Joseph Church in Monot street and I found them with a little help from the Cultural secretary of the Romanian Embassy in Beirut. I've been trying to call them forthe last few days, since the Hezbollah (yeah, again Hezbollah) has taken control of the western Beirut where all the nice places are. For some reason nobody is interested in this story in Romania. I can't understand why, given the fact that most of the world is carefully watching what's happening in Lebanon.

Oh, please, don't be harsh on the video. It was the first time I had to shoot my own footage and do the interviews at the same time. And it's the first video I edit alone, at home, on my laptop using Movie Maker. So, yeah, you professionals out there, be patient with me. It takes time to learn this stuff, ok? And it takes time to do the subtitles. So here's what they say.

The guy in the orange coat has been in Beirut since febriary last year and he's pretty happy there. There has been a bit of turmoil, but not as much as he expected.

The girl witht he glasses, the violonist, explains how she had to cancel her classes becasue of the SITUATION ad how scared she was to cross downtown Beirut on her way to Brumana, on the mountain, where she lives. She thanked God when she reached home a day before.

The red haired lady is a Romanian Armenian who's been in Lebanon for 37 years. She's been through the civil war, lived it as any Lebanese lived it and she says nothing impresses her anymore. She graduated the Conservatory in Romania and she left during Ceausescu's rule. Lebanon seemed better during the civil war to her than communist Romania.

PS. There will be a few more stories in the next days. Depending how much sleep I get after the nights I spend at work.

THE FINNISH WAY

The City of Helsinki is to set up a two-person Romanian-speaking street patrol team. The purpose of the team is to reach out to Helsinki’s Roma beggars of Romanian origin. Originally the City of Helsinki had planned to establish a Romanian expert to patrol the streets. But, for the time being, they will buy the patrolling service the Helsinki Deaconess Institute. The institute’s workers will start patrolling the streets from the beginning of June. The Finnish want to investigate why the Roma leave Romania and go beg in Finland.
“We will ask them why they have arrived in Finland. Naturally it will also be interesting to find out they are genuinely victims of intimidation at home. And are the talks about their money lending and high interests true?” explained senior planning officer Johanna Seppälä from the City of Helsinki Safety and Preparedness Co-ordinating Division on Tuesday as quoted in the Helsingin Sanomat daily.
What complicates matters is the range and variety of beggars. There are peddlers of false gold and roses, those who stop cars, and petty thieves, but also women begging on their knees, who presumably have nothing to do with the previous. Some are street musicians. The usual stuff I might add.
The reason for the over-representation of Romania is the country’s sizeable Roma population, which is estimated at a minimum of two million people, the largest in Europe, the Finnish believe.
Several human rights organizations have reported on Romania’s systematic discrimination against its Roma minority.
So is putting pressure on the Romanian government through the EU one of the means toslove the problem? “Yes”, says a guy from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Definetly not, I'd say. I wonder how they will react when they really find out how complicated this whole thing is and how difficult it is to change the way people think. Try make these people stay off the streets and see what happens.

I once interviewed a Gypsy chief in a town called Tandarei in southern Romania. He had two huge houses, marble plated and was very proud of it. And proud of how he got the money for the two precious palaces.
"After the Revolution we put our children in the trunks and we went to Germany. We were hundreds of thousands. There was nothing here for us. The government wouldn't give us anything. So we left. People died then. Children suffocated in the trunks and the police at the borders had no idea. But it was worth the sacrifice. I made the money for these houses in two years. How? Social assistance. We had 10 children and we got lots of money for that. My people wouldn't steal. They are Christians." Traian Bulibasha is now a pentecostal pastor and forbids his people to lie and steal. But can he?