Mrs. Ibtisam Khoury – Lebanon

 

Mrs. Ibtisam Khoury is a madam involved with many social activities in Lebanon. Diafanís magazine had the opportunity to talk about children´s sports activities of the Club Cadmus. This year they have the collaboration of the Honorary Consulate of Lebanon in Vancouver.

We dialogued about the characteristics of this proposal from His Excellency the Honorary Consul Dr. Nick Kahwaji and about the project.

Mrs. Khoury is a former president of the Cadmus Club, an activist in the environmental and social field, and a member of several social associations. She refused to emigrate and leave her country and live in Switzerland, the country of her husband. Despite the difficult circumstances that Lebanon is going through, she preferred to stay stand by her family, students, and children.

 

• Where is Aabra and how is it?

Abra was the center of the Patriarcat Melkite Greek Catholic. Patriarch Matar was buried in St Elias church.
Lady Stanhope the famous British lady lived in St Elias monastery and planted a cypress tree that is still there.

                                                                                                          

• How long have you carried out activities for children and what is the name of the organization that led them?

Club Cadmus is a sports club that was founded in 1969 through the youth of Aabra. They used to take care of all sports activities. In the beginning, it was volleyball that was most popular and then basketball and football were integrated as well.

 

– What are the activities that they promote?

The club is not only engaged in sports activities, they additionally are involved in environmental and social activities. The goal of this activity is to meet all people living in Aabra to spend encouraging time together which is especially taking part during the summer holidays. The club is financed by the club members, the municipality, as well as by Aabra families.

 

– Do you organize children´s camps? What does it consist of? Who participates and what are the required conditions?

Every summer in August, on the occasion of St. Marie’s holiday, there is a tournament organized and several other clubs of the neighboring villages are invited to take part in this event as well. In the end, the winner receives a trophy.

 

– What activities do they carry out in the camps and who is in charge of them?

As is known throughout the world, Lebanese citizens are currently going through a very difficult period. Due to political and economic crises, people suffer a lot. Daily necessities like paying doctor and electricity bills, getting gasoline, having regular meals, etc. are becoming more and more difficult. The parents of Aabra’s children also face serious financial problems and therefore are constantly looking for ways to save money. Dr. Nick Kahwaji, a «former son of Aabra», who has lived abroad for many years, has never lost touch with his roots where he originally came from. In this sad and difficult time, he has shown his generosity and has helped the needy family as well as the Club. He financed this year’s event to restart this activity after it could not be held for two years for financial reasons and also because of the Covid pandemic.

 

– This year you have the collaboration of the Honorary Consulate of Lebanon in Vancouver. Could you explain the characteristics of this proposal from His Excellency the Honorary Consul Dr. Nick Kahwaji?

This year, after the help of His Excellency, Dr. Nick Kahwaji, the club was able to reorganize and conduct regular football- and basketball training for approximately 50 children and teenagers (females and males) for five weeks which ended with the tournament.

Worth mentioning here is also the voluntary work of Mr. Labib Mchantaf, who took care of the children’s coaching, Mr. Milad Mchantaf, taking care of the administrative work, and Mrs. Ibtissam El-Khoury, the initiator and driving force in the background.

Mag. Marisa Avogadro Thomé, periodista y escritora argentina

 

 

Photographs: courtesy of Mrs. Ibtisam Khoury