São Paulo – A group of nearly twenty people of Lebanese origins, from ages 18 to 25, gathered Friday (28) afternoon for a cocktail party at the home of Lebanon’s consul in São Paulo, Rudy El Azzi. The event aimed to bring back the ties of these young people with the Arab country, to let them network and to offer them knowledge on Lebanese traditions with events, lectures and trips, plus the contact with the consulate.
“Most of the active people in the Lebanese community in São Paulo are older, over 50 years, thus, we’re organizing these meetings to ensure that the young people are still bonding with the community,” said El Azzi. According to the consul, this was only the first of many events aiming to integrate these young people and organize events to boost business, with lectures and seminars on the economy and culture, for instance, plus social interaction through sports, arts and music events.
Starting with the next events, El Azzi said that he will outline a more detailed profile of the group and, with this information on hand, pick the most relevant issues. He also decided to set up a WhatsApp group and a Facebook page with all the people that attended to keep everybody updated on the next events.
“We’re preparing a new generation of leaders in the Lebanese community since we have a gap between the older and younger members; we need the strength of these young people to close this gap and keep up with our work, and for them also to be able to pass forward the Lebanese culture to the next generations,” explained the consul.
Lebanon’s National Day is celebrated on November 22. “We usually invite the older and more active members of the community, but this year we will also invite this group of young people, since we want to motivate them and show that the consulate is working with the whole Lebanese community,” said El Azzi.
“We consider our community a very strong asset in our relation (between Brazil and Lebanon), Lebanon is far away and small in comparison to Brazil, but it has an active and powerful community in this country in all sectors of daily life, in culture, economy, in politics,” said the consul.
The consul said he will set the next meeting for a different time so more of the young members can attend. The 2nd Meeting of Young Lebanese People will be on November 6 (to be confirmed), at 7 pm, in the consul’s official home, and will include young people from 18 to 29 years. For further information and registration, send an email to the Office of the General Consul of Lebanon – gabinetecgl@gmail.com. The event is free.
Quick info
2nd Meeting of Young Lebanese People
November 6, 2018, at 7 pm (to be confirmed)
São Paulo – SP
gabinetecgl@gmail.com
Free admission
Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
