Maaser ech Chouf's smart guys
No war traces are to be seen in this beautiful village. Zoning is respected and the environment isn't polluted; villagers even have their own water trickling down from the nearby mountains. Best of all, each year the municipality renovates ten roofs to maintain the traditional architecture.
Mid afternoon is siesta time and Maaser ech Chouf's main square is empty. Eight local representatives (both Druze and Christians) have however agreed to meet us in the town hall. They explain how the displaced families received the necessary funds from the government and how the issue is now resolved.
Maaser ech Chouf 's representatives are more concerned with rural exodus. As they explain, most of the villagers have moved to Beirut to find work and only visit on weekends or for the summer. "Why would they come back and live here?" asks the deputy mayor. "There is no school, no university. The children must walk 15 km to reach the closest school. Access to Beirut is very difficult. There are no buses that connect Maaser ech Chouf to the other villages. Without a car, you can't go anywhere. The day these things change people will start coming back.''
Kfar Sellouane: silent voices
There is no reconciliation in Kfar Sellouane and unlike in Brih or Salima, people are unwilling to talk about the exiled inhabitants.
In an almost classic mountain scenario, the crisis started with a Druze killing a Christian neighbor. Acts of revenge followed suite and led to the exile of the Christian community. Since then, Christians have voiced their desire to return on condition that the Druze responsible for the first murder is incarcerated, regardless of the 1990 general amnesty law.
Until now, no one has given themselves up and hence no one has returned. To complicate matters, many Druze have taken over the houses owned by Christians. To vacate these places, they are asking for financial assistance from the government; yet by law money will not come without reconciliation.
Conclusion
Destroying, clearing out, building, rebuilding. People have destroyed quite a bit in the Lebanese mountain. They have also built a lot. But there hasn't necessarily been a conscious effort to clear out and rebuild. Not in the landscape or in the minds of its inhabitants.
Many exiled people have not returned to their villages as they are associated with murder and the most lavish villa cannot change that.
Another problem facing the mountain is the rural exodus pushing more people to leave. Re-establishing an ideal pluri-community implies work on the collective memory as well as the construction of projects aimed at raising the economic level of the mountain villages.
Lastly, the retreat of the Syrian army from Lebanon has changed the geo-politics of the region. The traces of this occupation are still tangible but the road is now free. Who knows whether this will translate into people reclaiming their homes? |
