Adonis Diaries

Nada Corbani Akl posted on Fb

Excerpt from “Memories of a guide of 1st Baabdath”.

The Company 1ère Baabdath known for its golden years under the direction of Sister René-Marcel who was also our French teacher. As a teacher, she offers us the best literary training that crowned the Saint-Enfant Jesus School with a high quality reputation confirmed by the inter-school literary competitions initiated by the French Cultural Mission that took place at that time.

These contests always sacred one of her students as we smoke him, for example, Marie Thérèse Chikhani and myself. When students were forced to integrate into other institutions during the short closure of 1965, they all shone in their new school environment thanks to rigorous training.

In Scouting, she was a perfect, demanding and picky chief. Full of energy, with her the activities were running, always carefully prepared with the team leaders and their assistant.

Red easily rose in his face in front of the innocent cartridges of the guides quickly compensated by his frank laughter and blue laughing eyes.

Her human and spiritual education in guidance and teaching has borne fruit as the majority of her students/guides are known today to be women involved, resourceful, attentive to others, nature and environmentally respectful, and academically excellent.

With her, we discovered the beautiful nature of our country and the respect we owe it through long walks in the forests and trails of the country and those of Baabdath first.

For example, La Thebaides, a green and a bit wild area not far from the school, hosted many of our activities with our cheftaine. In its midst were the remains of an old magnanery giving mystery to this clarinet, a witness to our 2nd grade tests, our track games trials, our spiritual retreats, but also our natural science lessons sometimes.

Today, the Thebaids is completely devastated by concrete structures breaking forever the charm of this beautiful clearence that Sister René Marcel particularly fond of.

Walks to Wata with our cheftaine were just as frequent the proximity helping but above all the beauty of this virgin region covered with pines, sprinkled with beautiful rocks and multiple paths that connected it around. From these walks we never come back giddy, explanations and questions about the vegetation and the panorama accompanying our steps!

We were constantly finishing these rounds enriched with new choruses but especially new friendships! Often accounts of these outings were done upon our return and commented on in guide meetings that took place on Thursday afternoons.

All its protected, discovered and loved corners with our cheftaine, have disappeared nowadays under the anarchical concrete that swallowed and destroyed everything in an apocalyptic vision making the Wata unrecognizable.

If respect for nature and the environment is undeniably linked to guidance, it is thanks to an involved cheftain that it found its climax through the camps of Chtaura,

Kléate and Chabanieh that took place in regions that are still green and almost virgin of crimes and abuse that it has us made to love forever. As well as archaeological discoveries, always very well prepared, took us to the Crossover Castles in Lebanon including Beaufort Castle, the Castle of the Sea in Saida and the Castle of Messailha and to all the archaeological sites in Lebanon, from Beit Mery to Tripoli, which was necessary comment by compiling the summaries required after these visits.

We basically owe him the unforgettable visit to Jerusalem 3 years before the Holy Sites were under Israeli occupation after the 1967 Israeli-Arab War!

On his initiative, it is almost impossible to forget these magnificent masses under the Natural Bridge in Fakra when a few rocks and a tree trunk served us as Autel for the mass celebrated in the fresh mountain air.

The Guide training that we owe him will have marked us forever with especially the BA, or Bonne Daily Action and the 3 S, when Smile, Helpfulness and Service guided our steps and continue to do so to this day.

If Sister René-Marcel had the answer to everything, she was especially for the students and guides an inexhaustible source of energies that fed our teenage thirsts.

However, some students did not accept the Spartan method of our cheftaine badly, wanting to convey the best but with strict methods. However, many were the students and guides who enjoyed this exceptional training that we still talk to the old ladies whenever we meet.

Sister Rene-Marcel made us, more than our parents, what we are today. Thinking of all those I’ve been with or known and benefited from his human training, school and guide, I remain stunned to this day by their strength in the face of the weathers of life, by the dimension of their professional commitments and by their extreme vital humanitarian involvement by the times we are living in right now in Lebanon.

Thanks to all Flavia, Aurore, Ella, May, Hoda, Amal, Eliane, Leila, Viviane, Elham, Madonna, Nena, Nadia, Liliane, Marianne… , and so many others who were a role model in life because of a teacher and a guide leader who pushed them to be the best of themselves!

Hachem Nayla, Ella Bitar, May Hazaz, Leila Hazaz-Letayf, Viviane Ghammache, Amal Arcache, Liliane Njaim, Rosy Melki Ghobril, Marianne Melki, Elham Najjar, Victoria Labaki…..