My recent stay in Lebanon has been a moving experience. A mixture of emotions and mind opening moments about how life could be under different circumstances.
Last year, Beat Martin Baggenstos from the non-profit association “ClimbAID” asked me if I would be interested in supporting a project called “A ROLLING ROCK” dedicated to climbing with vulnerable youth in Lebanon, in particular Syrian refugees. Hearing his invitation and seeing the opportunity to help develop the sport in the country, I jumped immediately on board.
In 2014, I had made a similar experience in Israel and Palestine, climbing in a humanitarian hotspot and meeting people dealing with difficult situations and tensions on a daily basis. I came home totally “boulversée” and started questioning myself a lot.
Clearly, we climb for different reasons and it’s important to us. For me climbing has this magical power to help us disconnect and live fully in the present.
But does climbing help resolve wars or conflicts? Does it help poor or ill people?
At first glance, the answer would be no, but I started to believe that we can contribute to overcoming great and important challenges by sharing what climbing teaches us.
And so two weeks ago, I left for Beirut alone, with the beautiful excitement of not having a clue of what will come and what you are going to experience. I can’t really explain what I was expecting from this week in Lebanon, which has the highest concentration of refugees per capita in the world. 1 out of 3 is a refugee.
I rented a car at 3 am in the capital, Beat picked me up and after a one-hour drive joined the three other team members from ClimbAID in Zahlé, Central Beqaa. After a short night, we got ready for our first boulder session in a small refugee settlement in Bar Elias.
I was very excited to see A ROLLING ROCK with my own eyes, after such a long period of fundraising, construction and shipping. The truck is a real eye-catcher and well-designed for some real climbing.
I have to admit that on the first day, I got teary eyes from time to time. I felt overwhelmed by the place, the authenticity of the people, the traditions, the food, the smell, the chaos on the roads and market places, and of course by the tough reality of the war in Syria, less than 20 kilometres away.
The session we did that day was apparently one of the best ClimbAID had so far. It was certainly due to the small size of the camp, which consisted of 4 large families.
We made separate age groups because climbing with kids is not the same as with teenagers. I quickly learned that the participants need a lot of supervision, because the excitement and energy is so high that everything can become very chaotic very fast.
ClimbAID’s goal is not just to keep the participants busy for a little while or to play around. They follow a clear set of goals, which is to stimulate the psycho-social development from age 12 onwards, to show them the spirit of climbing and how it shapes our life. In climbing, we learn how to work together, to push each other, and ourselves. We learn that we are in fact often dealing with the same problems, and that there much to learn from each other’s experiences. We put all our energy in the present moment and live the amazing feeling that we all experience when we overcome our fears.
My open and personable character helped a lot. Even if I don’t speak Arabic, I had what felt like very spontaneous connections regardless of gender or age. When I climb, my body speaks a language that everybody understands and I was able to motivate young women to climb, something that cannot be taken for granted in this cultural context.
For the next three days, we left the Beqaa valley and went up to the mountains for some excellent rock climbing in Tannourine. On the way there, we experienced the vast and dazzling cultural diversity of Lebanon. We passed charming Maronite Christian and Druse villages in the mountains, and in North Beqaa saw the celebrations for Ashura, an important Shia Muslim holiday. At all times – obviously perceived as a tourist while driving a mini with pink sunglasses – I felt safe and was enchanted by the hospitality of the Lebanese people.
Tannourine offers everything that a rock climber is looking for. An outstanding place with very high rock quality and so much potential! It was very refreshing to hang out and to work on hard routes with the friendly and hard climbing Lebanese crew. I was very interested to hear their point of view on the situation in their country and of course I wanted to know their point of view on the fact that 1/3 of the population is Syrian or Palestinian refugee.
With pumped arms, we enjoyed together a simple and delicious Lebanese dinner and then went wild camping between fig trees. The second day was even better on a slightly higher sector: a beautiful overhanging orange limestone, with perfect and solid holds, called Shawarma Cave.
Then we left for the coast where we jumped from cliffs into the turquoise green water, did some sightseeing in the impressive city of Tripoli and enjoyed once more the Lebanese guest culture with its amazing food.
Back in Beqaa, we had a sharp reminder of reality. We wanted to hold a climbing session in another refugee settlement, but had to cancel it because we couldn’t guarantee a safe session. It was too chaotic, kids were jumping on the truck, some fighting with sticks. These kids have so much energy that it is sometimes challenging to control and channel it – especially, when after a long week of waiting ClimbAID’s colourful A ROLLING ROCK returns.
On the way back, we stopped to buy fruits and veggies in a small market and Beat started to chat with the shop assistant, a well-educated Syrian man. With tears in his eyes, he told us that there is nothing left in his country, that everything has been destroyed. His and his family’s story touched us deeply. Despite the destruction, his only wish is to go back home.
In those moments, you realize how desperate and sad the life of refugees must be. You feel how disconnected they are and how lucky we can feel about having a safe home to consider as ours.
Once more, I realised how privileged I am and how lucky I can feel to have the life I have.
We all have our own history, problems and sorrows to deal with. But stepping out of my comfort zone and joining the ClimbAID team for one week put my own problems into perspective. Sharing the values that I experience through climbing, surpassing myself in situations I’m not necessarily very comfortable with, is a privilege. I love spreading the positive energy that climbing gives to me and hope that through ClimbAID’s project in Lebanon, A ROLLING ROCK, the teens and kids in the Beqaa valley can experience a bit of the same.
With A ROLLING ROCK, ClimbAID wants to bring colour, movement, and joy to vulnerable youth around the Beqaa for many months ahead. Please consider donating to their endeavour via:
Wire transfer: Postfinance / CH02 0900 0000 6172 4147 1 / ClimbAID, Neugasse 85, 8005 Zurich
PayPal / Stripe: Donations@ClimbAID.org
A big thank’s to the Climb AID team for hosting me with arms wide open, to Jan Bakker for the climbing pics, to Scarpa for their great spirit by offering more then 40 pairs of climbing shoes for the project, to Budget car rental for offering cars where ever I need them (by clicking on that link, you can enter this promo code L820200 and benefit from a 15% discount on your next car rental), to Espace vertical for offering climbing hold for the boulder and to all the donaters for supporting the project!