It was the second “Feed the Homeless” project that the Y4UW in Lebanon did, however, this year was a little different. The Y4UW partnered with the Teens for Unity and collaborated with FoodBlessed (another NGO) to reach an even bigger number of people in need. An estimated 100 persons were expected to be served.

On Saturday 21, all of the shopping and the cooking had been done at the Local Gen in Gemmayze. On Sunday morning the Y4UW headed to the Jesuites Garden in Ashrafieh Beirut to meet with the people, there they served lunch and spent some time with the people in the public garden.

Here are the experiences of Michel, Lara and Toufic who are members of the Y4UW in Lebanon and who were touched by this event.

Michel: We planned for the event for more than a week and divided the tasks into two days. The first day we met all together where everyone helped in preparing the food, from peeling the carrots to cooking the pasta. Each and everyone of us took turns in doing different tasks so we all had the chance to do everything with minimal efforts but yet still very effective work and tiring.
After a full day of preparation we were ready to go visit the “homeless” people, we prepared the tables, the cups, and the plates for them. We served them what they like and what they want. They were very excited to see us and they were much more eager to talk to us and open up subjects with us than to eat. We enjoyed our stay with them. We have conversed with them and played some traditional games and danced with some music that we played and chanted.

Lara: The weekend of 21/22 May was amazing for so many reasons. It was “Feed the Homeless” on Sunday and on Saturday I got to see the gen who I haven’t seen for a long time and prepare the food with them. Sunday came and when we got to the park, there were a few people already there. I didn’t know how I was supposed to approach “homeless” people. I didn’t want to remember this day as a day where I helped a homeless man or gave food to a hungry child because this would make me feel good about myself, that was not my objective. I wanted to share this meal with them and get to know them. I even forgot I was a germophobe. Instead of handing them the food as if to fulfill a duty, I asked if I could sit with them and eat together.

Once I chose to have this attitude, I began to have a conversation with them. There was a man who told me all about his life as a child and his life now. He did not tell me that he was hungry or thirsty, but he told me he was lonely. The highlight of my day was a conversation I had with one of the women. After having asked for some music and clapped and danced, she came up to me at the end to say thank you. She told me that lots of groups came by every week to provide food. She said that every Friday a group of people comes to offer food and that she was thankful. However, about our group she had something more to add. She said there was something about us that was magical and yet real. There was something about our group that brought her joy and her words made perfect sense because that something was Unity.

Toufic: On the day of preparation, I was asked to take photos of everyone and I couldn’t but notice how everyone was working coherently and with a positive attitude. We even asked our neighbor, a young lady whom we just met a few days earlier, if she wanted to come join us cooking. Without hesitation she came and felt at ease and mingled with everyone. On a personal note, I helped prepare the sauces for the pasta. The environment that we were cooking in was very peaceful and heart-warming in which we had some tunes being played on the guitar which were sometimes overshadowed by some laughter here and there.

The following day we went to our set location, a public garden in Beirut, and we stationed ourselves and started handing out food. It was incredible and words could really not describe the pure happiness we felt.

One old man was very excited that he started singing along with us and made me look bad because he knew the lyrics of the songs more than I did. Also, I could see every youth going to random people and starting a conversation with them which gave out a peaceful ambiance all around. But what topped it all off was that one lady that felt so blissful with our presence that she couldn’t stop dancing and inviting everyone up to join in with her.

It was a joyous moment in what I refer to now as “the garden of Eden” because at that moment on this special day nothing else mattered, just that we were alive, free, and together as one.