After more than a month of intensive preparation for our current aid project in Lebanon, we can already look back on wonderful milestones: Thanks to our 19 collection points in Austria, we were able to collect 12,800 kg of donations in kind. The sorting station in Güssing sorted them into 1,155 banana boxes. Again we were allowed to temporarily store these quantities with our friends in the Cambium in Fehring and with the Together Association in Carinthia. Last week we finally got the truck ready in Fehring for departure to Lebanon.

We don’t want to withhold the story about loading from you: Because at the exact time the truck was loaded, the Zapatistas were guests at the Cambium. The Zapatistas are indigenous, social revolutionary groups from southern Mexico. For a long time they have been fighting for the right to self-determination and defending themselves against oppression, land grabbing and capitalist conditions. They were particularly successful in the state of Chiapas.

At the moment the Zapatistas in Europe are on a “journey for life”. 500 years ago, the first Europeans in Latin America enslaved and murdered the locals, destroying much of the indigenous culture. Now the Zapatistas are coming to Europe with the message to do better this time and to live as one big family on this planet. They do not want pity or resentment, they just want to highlight the similarities that unite us all on their journey.

So it was a matter of course for them to help us load the truck. And now – as we think – the circle is coming full circle: Indigenous people from Latin America are helping in Austria to load donations in kind for refugee orphans in Lebanon. So goes human family.

Our 9-person team, consisting of volunteers, clowns, artists and artists, starts its journey to Lebanon today. We wish everyone a good time and many nice encounters that give strength for their work on site.