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| Columns of the Temple of Jupiter |
As I stand here dwarfed by the columns and in awe of the amazingly artistic complex of Royal Palace and Temples, with intricate stone carving and massive stones weighing many tons, it strikes me that all of this predates ‘white’ Australia by over 2,000 years.
This important complex was located on two historic trade routes between the Mediterranean Sea and the Syrian interior and the between northern Syria and northern
Palestine. It was a fertile plane with water – it was vital for survival. Here people of many cultures came together and did life.
Over the years people have come and gone, religions have established a presence and people of faith have lived together, and still do. In the shadow of the great walls of the Temple of Jupiter there is a Maronite grotto and just a little further away is the unmistakable blue tiles and minarets of an Iranian inspired mosque casting their shadow on an Orthodox Cathedral. This is still a city of people of many cultures and religions doing life – it is a city that celebrates diversity.
Back up the road from this symbol of diversity there are 2,000 children meeting together, some for the first time. These are Syrian children from Informal Tented Settlements, refugee children who with their families have been forced from their homes. Little ‘Achmad’ clutches a small juice box as he tells me that his home is in Homs, (Syria) but he has been living in a shack with his family for 4 years now. Next to him gorgeous little ‘Noor’ with huge eyes shyly cast down to the ground tells me that she was born in a shack here in the Bekaa, 4 years ago. Today they are joining Lebanese children from the communities that surround the settlements. I’m new to this place, but apart perhaps from the clothes they are wearing I can’t tell the difference between the kids – as they bounce around in the bouncy castle and ‘do the hokey-pokey’ with some scary looking clowns and Tom and Jerry they all laugh and scream together.
Perhaps one thing that marks a difference is the little bags of nuts. Each kid is given a bag of mixed nuts (“Lebanese nuts are the best in the world”, so I’m told by Thomas a 6 year old) and a small juice box. The Lebanese kids are eating and drinking, the Syrian kids are not. They will be taking theirs home to give to Mum to share with the family.
Here, surrounded by loud music and strange “kids entertainment” there is no fear, no animosity and no suspicion – perhaps how it was 2,000 years ago? It’s just kids being kids. As they go from one stall to another led by volunteer youth leaders in a carefully choreographed dance so as to get 500 kids in each session through, they are taught about disaster risk reduction: who to call, how to react in an emergency; health and safety from the Red Cross; road safety from a local transport authority; staying safe on-line and child rights and a number of other community safety concerns. All this happens sandwiched between a bouncy castle and a huge blow up slide.
Today is a celebration of difference. It is an opportunity to share life, and to say that we can exist together. And the kids are showing us the way. We need to provide opportunities to confront the prejudices and the lies of political and religious expediency and allow people to hear one another, to do the hokey-pokey, to laugh, to cry, to scream, together.
[One thing of which I am constantly reminded in my work is that all too often we talk about ‘them’ and ‘they’! We refer to “Muslims” or “Christians”, or “Australians” as if every single one of them is the same – ‘they’ are not. My natural inclination to prejudice, my opinions about you and my actions towards others are ultimately not a result of my religious affinity, my cultural heritage or my race category – the way I treat you is all down to me – alone.]
