Southern Lebanon

Just a brief update!

Have now travelled down to Tyre in southern Lebanon and I can feel the relief of leaving Beirut, despite being pretty ill last night.

Life here seems a long way away from the flashy cars, beautiful people and expensive food of Beirut.

Unfortunately have not yet found a flat for our boys group to live in during our work in the camps so we're currently staying in a hotel but we start teaching tomorrow and I'm pretty excited about that. Seeing the children here working - as young as 12 years - I want to use the time I have here to bring them some fun and enjoyment, as well as some learning.

The journey down in a minibus from Tyre was pretty squashed but it was amazing to see a country that has been so ravaged by war. Here in Tyre, Nasrallah's image is pretty much everywhere. The people are extremely friendly but there's clearly a lot of poverty. One boy who was serving drinks on the beach today had travelled from Syria for the summer. He was quiet, without the bounce of other 12-year-olds, working hard and deeply tanned from standing out on the beach day after say.

Lebanon clearly has a lot of sadness, yet I am amazed to see the way in which people here are so warm. To think that, less than 2 years ago, this very town was being shelled by the Israelis, it makes me realise how lucky we are to live in a stable country.

For now I'm going to head back to the hotel with the other lads (Peter - bouncey Glaswegian, Ben - serious and tall academic type and Nick - gentle and calm) to do some lesson planning.