Intro for August 5, 2020

Dear Gossips, 

Even before yesterday’s tragedy in Beirut, the people of Lebanon were struggling through an economic crisis and the healthcare system was overwhelmed by COVID-19. Today there are hundreds still missing from the explosions and hundreds of thousands of people are now displaced and homeless. Recovery efforts are ongoing but they need a lot of help. 

I have made a donation to the Lebanese Red Cross and if you are able to as well, please click here or see below for a list of resources: 

To learn more about the existing conditions in Lebanon and how its citizens were already in a desperate situation, here’s a good podcast that was just posted this week summarising the chaotic political and financial landscape of the country. For a more personal take, Lebanese author Naji Bakhti’s essay about Lebanon’s “social catastrophe”, which was written by candlelight, was also just published days before and puts a face and family story to the compounded devastation that’s happening now. 

And if you haven’t already, check out this video of a rescue team freeing a survivor after ten hours this morning. These are the helpers, the heroes, the people who are exhausted and trying to push through, literally. 

Yours in gossip,

Lainey