Children gather at Phoenicia to celebrate differences

BEIRUT: In an effort to foster a community of acceptance to realize the abilities of those with disabilities, InterContinental Phoenicia Beirut gathered over 50 children from Al-Kawthar School, a private high school in Beirut and Foyer D’Enfants, a Kesrouan-based school for children with special needs. The pouring rain and thunderstorms prevented many more children who were invited from arriving at the Phoenicia InterContinental Hotel in Beirut for the festivities, which included singing, dancing, a magic show and an elaborate lunch. 

The Beirut-based “Celebrate Our Differences” campaign sponsored the event, which was designed to help children understand that valuing diversity and caring about those in need will build a great community. 

Soraya Abbas Dahan, who started “Celebrate Our Differences,” shared its message with those present: “Let us choose, regardless of our prejudices and fears, to see our differences as a source of wealth, rather than a threat to our individual existence. In our diversity we have managed to create a country that is unique in its combination of the best of East and West and Muslim and Christian cultures.” 

“Let us be proud of our diversity and stop defining ourselves and our neighborhoods by our religion or politics … Our children are not born prejudiced; it is we that teach them,” she said. 

Abbas Dahan said that Celebrate Our Differences’ functions as a campaign rather than a full-fledged organization. 

“There are no official sponsors,” she said. “We collaborate with individuals or organizations that are interested in organizing events attached to our campaign. I will not go down the road of starting up an official organization again, I tried that before with a women’s shelter, and the bureaucracy involved was incredibly frustrating.” 

Apparently this less conventional approach seems to be working for Abbas Dahan and her colleagues, who’ve encountered significant interest in the campaign since its inception two months ago. 

Basile added that the next activity will bring together Muslim and Christian children and have them plant trees for Lebanon together. 

Georg Weinlaender, the InterContinental Phoenicia’s general manager, cited former US President Jimmy Carter, who said: “We are a nation of differences. Those differences don’t make us weak. They’re the source of our strength.” 

“Lebanon, despite its relatively small proportions, is a cosmopolitan country par excellence,” Weinlaender added. “Bridging differences should be an area of expertise for the Lebanese people. And this is what we need to teach our children today. Let’s celebrate our small differences while we still have them and paint our lives with beautiful colors. Who wants to live in a gray world after all?” 

The reigning Miss Lebanon, Martine Andraos, made a surprise visit to the children and took the time to chat with them during lunch.