Thursday September 10, 2020

I've Been Thinking:

Sri Lanka donated about three and a half thousand pounds of tea to the victims of the explosion that devastated Beirut.

Many domestic workers in Lebanon are Sri Lankan ex-patriots. Sri Lanka feels close to Lebanon and they feel their pain.

Sri Lanka produces some of the best tea in the world and they believe that tea has healing properties. Their donation was thought through and it was significant.

But instead of going to victims, the president of Lebanon gave the tea to his family and to the presidential guard and their families.

On August 24th the office of President Aoun of Lebanon released a picture showing him with the Sri Lankan ambassador, and quoted her as saying that Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, had "donated 1,675 kilos (3,685 pounds) of Ceylon tea to those affected by the Beirut blast".

Not everyone was pleased. "The tea was sent to the Lebanese, particularly those affected by the explosion. Of course it wasn't a present for those who don't need it," tweeted Paula Yacoubian, a former Lebanese member of parliament who resigned after the blast. She, like many other Lebanese, blame the explosion on the neglect of Lebanese leadership.

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