Hope in the midst of hopelessness

The port of Beirut following the explosion.

Today marks one year since the horrific port of Beirut explosion that shook Lebanon and brought the attention of the international media to Lebanon. But even before the blast, the country was struggling. For many years, Lebanon has endured a severe and prolonged economic depression, which, according to the World Bank, ranks in the top 10 most severe global crises since the mid-nineteenth century. Today Serop Ohanian, our friend and CEO of Embrace partner organisation The Karagheusian Centre, reflects on how he and his team of healthcare workers find the motivation to continue being ‘light and salt’ in the dark corners of Beirut.

I couldn’t believe my eyes seeing that huge mushroom cloud of smoke that covered the sky at 18:06 pm on August 4th 2020. A powerful explosion blast eroded my ears as I witnessed that terrible explosion in the port of Beirut. Immediately, within less than a minute, half of the beautiful city was destroyed. After taking care of my immediate family members, I rushed to our healthcare facility to assess the damage and to check up on the well-being of our 150 staff members.

An hour later I arrived at our Center & saw the damage for myself. The building was standing tall but without any of the glass, windows or doors. There was no electricity. Broken glass was everywhere. It is a miracle that I am still breathing. All of our staff members were alive, although some of them were injured.  I am so glad that we had no fatalities.

The loss is terrible: we lost our beautiful healthcare facility, we lost hope of rebuilding our wounded country.  I thought ‘how am I going to sustain hope and empower our team of staff?’ ‘how am I going to say that “It is all going to be alright when I am not sure about that?“‘

It was the moment for leadership: I had to be proactive and address the staff as the CEO of the Healthcare Center, whilst standing in middle of our damaged facility.

I sent the following message:

CEO Serop did his best to reassure and motivate devastated staff.

 ‘Dear staff members, Lebanon is passing through a very difficult time, this explosion is huge and catastrophic. Thankfully we had no casualties. This terrible tragedy hit all of us and our healthcare Center is badly damaged, but is not destroyed and can be fixed.

Stay home with your family members and loved ones, do not come to the Center for work tomorrow. We will rebuild and we will be resilient. Your health, wellbeing and safety is our top priority. I want you to embrace yourself and gather your energy because after 24 hours we will need your healthcare services as more people will be coming to our Center to receive immediate care.

Healthcare must remain accessible, attainable and sustainable for all. We will keep on operating and working until the last breath that we have since we are a healthcare workers & remember that oath the “healthcare creed” to keep our fellow humans healthy. We shall never surrender’.

Our staff members were extremely worried about the blast. They asked ‘will we be able to continue working? will we be able to do what we are called to do? will we be able to renovate our Center? will we still have a job? How about renovating their own houses, now that the Lebanese currency has been devaluated and lost its purchasing power?’ The challenge was huge.

In expressing empathy, my message gave them hope that overcame their fear. The solidarity and support that our staff experienced revived the hope within them, our healthcare staff felt empowered.

 I also contacted our friends and partners in ministry and I received an immediate response. I still remember vividly how I communicated with the staff members at Embrace and how through their prayers, immediate support, encouragement and follow up, they were able to translate compassion into actionable care. A chain of prayers was initiated all the way from overseas and extra financial relief  was immediately provided in order to continue proving help to the needy and to restore our building..

Serving the wounded for free and providing medication and trauma therapy to people coming to our Center ignited the hope within us and created a spirit of resilience within our team of healthcare staff. That feeling of ‘you can make a difference’ overcame the self-doubt and self-pity. The centre was like a bee-hive with everyone using their skills to provide the best possible healthcare services for all. That day we provided service to 500 patients compared to our average of around 250.

Lessons from the blast

In my mind the question remains: when will Lebanon stop experiencing such tragedies? Living through the civil war and then witnessing a huge refugee crisis, not to mention a corrupt government and leaders?

But I learned that in our small human way we must endeavor to make this little world entrusted to our care a bit more peaceful, more just and a better place to live. That was the choice that we had, to endeavor to make change and to be resilient; to thrive, to soar, to continue in our mission. I learned that restoring the agency within us is contagious, real, productive, and encouraging.

The explosion in the port destroyed much of the city of Beirut.

I’ve learned to live in the moment, to show compassion and  to communicate honestly.

I’ve seen that our healthcare staff provide the best service when they feel valued, empowered, taken care of, and understood.

I recall the verse from the Bible “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called Children of God” (Mt  5:9). Our Heavenly Father reminded me of this verse, and it was through the gentle whisper of the Holy Spirit that I became peaceful amidst chaos.

 I lead the Karagheusian Center - a Non-Governmental Organization that emerged from tragedy. In 1921, a young child named Howard Karagheusian died of the Spanish flu. His parents, the Karagheusian family living in New York City, decided to establish an endowment fund in the name of their son; the centre would provide treatment to the sick and destitute. Now, 100 years later, the Karagheusian Organization is facing another series of tragedies: the COVID pandemic, refugee crisis,  as well as socio-economic and political turmoil.

And yet, I’ve witnessed, how, in these terrible times and tragic moments, God’s promises ignite the hope within us by reminding us that we are not alone. We can still be light in this dark corner of the Middle East.

Indeed, in the month following the blast, it was the first time in the history of our organization we provided service to more than 10,000 patients;  even whilst the centre was damaged.  

Everyone living here deserves to receive an affordable, attainable, accessible, continuous and high quality of primary healthcare & psycho-social services.  Healthcare is their basic human right. Together with our team of more than 150 primary healthcare staff members, social workers, physicians and wonderful admin team, we aim to continue being light and salt in these dark corners of Beirut.

 By Serop Ohanian, CEO, The Karagheusian Centre