CLFW/Project Roots' Director's Speech in California: An Invitation to Join a Noble Cause
On June 14,
2014, at a meeting organized by Consul Johnny Ibrahim at his residence in
Los Angeles, California, for Lebanese entities, including religious
dignitaries, Lebanese political parties and non-profit organizations, Mrs. Nada
Salem Abisamra, the director of Project Roots and the Christian Lebanese
Foundation in the World (CLFW), gave the following speech:
The Christian Lebanese Foundation in the World (CLFW), which was established in
Washington, DC, in November 2013, is affiliated to the Maronite Foundation in
the World and has the same President, Mr. Michel Edde, and Vice President, Mr.
Neemat Frem. We are now in the process of expanding our board of trustees to
include people of different denominations who share our cause and objectives.
In March 2014, we formed 3 different support committees:
- A general support committee: non religious, non partisan, formed of prominent
people of different denominations, from different states.
- A religious support committee: formed of representatives of the religious
entities that are related to Lebanon.
- A party support committee: formed of the heads or representatives of the
different Lebanese parties in the US.
And we are now in the process of forming a marketing support committee.
We are working very closely with the Lebanese embassy and consulates whose
endorsement we are very grateful for. We are also working closely with the
National Apostolate of Maronites (NAM) and the different Lebanese American
Clubs and Organizations.
After trying to register Americans of Lebanese descent in Lebanon for more than
3 years under the Maronite Foundation and Project Roots, we have realized that,
alone, we cannot accomplish much. This cause is big. It is vital. It is about
our existence in Lebanon, our mother country that, despite the fact that we
have left it, will always remain in our hearts in one way or another,
especially since we will always be Lebanese descendants who need to be proud of
their country of origin!
So, we should all fight together to preserve the Land of the Cedar, the Land of
Gebran and all the great, successful, and outstanding people who represent it
all over the world! We should fight to keep this land beaming with diversity,
democracy, and pride. We should fight to keep the face of Lebanon the way it
is, whereby all its diverse children live with openness, acceptance, and
tolerance, despite the challenges our country faces... If all Lebanese
descendants abroad register in Lebanon, they can help improve the future of our
country! They can create a new harmony… they can become the guardians of
Lebanon!
We all need to come together to preserve Lebanon's specificity: its pluralistic
society, its confessional conviviality, and its cultural diversity.
We want moderation to prevail over fanaticism... and in a small country like
Lebanon, demography is very important... Lebanon needs its children's
confessional diversity and conviviality in order to keep on promoting
moderation.
We are reaching out to you all... We want to work with you and we want to
succeed together! We do not care who gets the credit: we want to win together.
We want a win/win!
This weekend, we have a pilot campaign going on in 3 different states. We have
teamed up with the Lebanese embassy and consulates, with the religious entities
through their representatives on our committee, with all the Lebanese parties,
with different Lebanese American clubs and organizations, and we hope this
campaign will be successful. We want it to be a "hurricane campaign"
where all the Lebanese entities in the US team up to attack specific areas and
sweep off all the registrations they can get.
In September, we want to have a hurricane campaign here in LA.
We need... Not only your support... But also your participation!
We need the participation of the following entities, of course in addition to
that of the consul general:
- All Lebanese religious entities
- All Lebanese parties
- All Lebanese American Clubs and Organizations
- All prominent Lebanese figures here who can affect people's opinions,
sensitize them to the situation in Lebanon, hook them to our cause, and lead
them, not only to register their families, but also to lead all the eligible
people around them to register... In one word: mobilize them!
- And, last but not least, we also need the participation of every person who
can help spread the word, distribute flyers, refer families...
On the East coast, we have hired interns for that purpose... We can do the same
here.
Our children need roots to grow... We need to water their roots ... We owe it
to them... And those roots are Lebanese!!
Mr. Neemat Frem wondered, in his address at the Northern Ohio American Lebanese
Association (NOOLA) last November, why the Lebanese have so many individual
successes and so many collective failures...
Let us work very hard together to make this noble cause our collective
success!!