São Paulo – Brazil in Lebanon Friendship Group (Grupo Amizade Brasil no Líbano) comprises 62 Brazilian women who joined forces to adapt to their new life in the Arab country. By hosting social events and doing assistance work, they found a way to make a contribution to the nation they now call home.
“The group has been active for 15 or 20 years now, but it wasn’t until 2014 that we got organized,” says president and founding member Lívia Tawil. “These are 62 families whose wives are Brazilians, of Lebanese descent or otherwise, who made the choice of living in Lebanon,” says Tawil, a natural of Salvador, Brazil, the daughter of a Brazilian mother and a Lebanese father.
A seven-strong commission organizes the activities. “The main goal is to socialize and integrate Brazilian women in Lebanon. We provide social and psychological assistance to newly-arrived Brazilians in adapting to the customs, the traditions and the Arabic language, which is not an easy task,” says Tawil.
She explains that social activities are also designed to integrate the Brazilian women into Lebanese society, and donations are made to nursing homes, orphanages and schools. Moreover, the group provides legal support to Brazilians in the Arab country.
The assistance work includes getting food and blanket donations to distribute to a number of institutions. According to Tawil, 10 to 15 such organizations have been assisted, many of them more than once. The group accepts donations from people and corporations.
Tawil notes that the group relies on strong support from several Brazilian government organizations in Lebanon, including the embassy, the consular office, the Brazilian military officers with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil), the Council of Brazilian Citizens in Lebanon and the Brazil-Lebanon Cultural Center.
She explains that all activities are carried out in partnership with Lebanese women, who join the group via family and friendship ties built at events such as dinners and breakfasts, around their neighborhood and at kids’ schools, for instance. “They love Brazil and they engage in everything [the group organizes]. They are very open,” she says about Lebanese women.
The initiative comprises women from age 28 to 70. Brazilian women in Lebanon who wish to join can get in touch via the group’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/groups/AmizadeBrasill/?fref=ts).
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
