The Armenian Missionary Association of America (AMAA) this week issued a letter seeking help for the Armenian community in Lebanon, whose precarious fate was being battered by the fallout from the COVID-19 quarantine.
The letter appears below:
Our communities in Lebanon are facing existentialist threats.
And this time it’s not the indiscriminately flying bullets.
It is poverty, unemployment, loss of jobs, layoffs, bankruptcies or half a salary that has surrendered its purchasing power.
It’s COVID-19, liquidity crunch, political upheaval and vanished opportunities.
Our people are industrious, workaholic and can turn the stone into bread.
But when calamity hits on all fronts paralyzing a region because of persistent fear of violence, exasperated by inability to access one’s own resources, compounded by an unknown and unseen vile, the result is an unimaginable and catastrophic collective punishment.
That is what our communities are facing today in the Near East, especially in Lebanon.
Imagine, a lockdown partially lifted, allowing schools to open but parents fretting, because they cannot afford any tuition any more.
Imagine teachers being paid half a salary while the cost of essential goods has tripled.
This is not the Dark Ages nor the lurid Ottoman Empire.
It is the 21st Century so sanguinely welcomed.
The situation is grim and even the short term need is unimaginably immense.
We have no choice but to reach out, cast out all fear, inject hope and resuscitate.
God has called us to implore “perfect love to cast all fear.” Fear held off and hopelessness cast away bring chances of revival closer to reality.
I ask that you join us in our efforts and support the Armenians in Lebanon through a reputable channel of your choice or AMAA’s mission (AMAA 31 W. Century Rd., Paramus, NJ 07652) to sustain the health, education or mere life of the communities in the Near East.
Your generous gift will help win the battle of survival in Lebanon.
Zaven Khanjian
AMAA Executive Director/CEO
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