Aid to Lebanon
Molly asked in her comment about sending things to LEbanon. Here in Cyprus, Doctors without Borders are saying that we should stop giving material donations, and should give money instead, because with cash they can buy things at wholesale prices and it will go a lot further. Even the Red Cross today told me that they don’t need much in the way of material donations at the moment.(They took my pile of sheets and towels, but rejected the clothes and toys I also brought). But they do need money. (They need a ceasefire even more. But that, unfortunately, is out of the hands of peons like us, although as I said before, every letter is worth a thousand constituents!)
I’m guessing that there must be Doctors Without Borders offices in the US you can contact if you want to send donations. (Here every bank has a Doctors without Borders account and you can just make a deposit at your local branch).Or the Red Cross - here in Cyprus the Red Cross is fiercely involved with the Lebanon crisis; i just don’t know about the US, though. I also have account information for individual accounts in Lebanon of people who are assisting internal refugees. Here is information for The Women’s HumanitarianOrganization which has been organizing aid in Bourj al Barajneh, a refugee camp where new refugees have fled for refuge among older refugees.
Here in Cyprus my favorite organization is Doctors Without Borders. They do phenomenal work. And they are so dedicated. There is a doctor, a pediatric surgeon, here, who used to go to Palestine to do pro bono work, but the Israelis stopped letting her in - even though she is a member of Parliament in Cyprus! The time before last when she tried to go to Palestine, they put her in a closet-like room for hours, and then deported her. It was all over the news here. The next time she tried to go to Palestine they refused entry immediately. They don’t like people who call attention to human rights issues. Now she is in Lebanon, doing surgeries and helping the people there. She came back briefly to Cyprus, and was interviewed: when asked if she would return to Lebanon despite the danger she replied, succinctly, “Yes.” My husband knows her a little, and when she comes back from Lebanon he is going to try to arrange for me to interview her.