Between the land of Cedars and the Côte d’Azur, there is a bond of solidarity that continues to strengthen thanks to “L Blanches”, an association created in December 2021. Help for firefighters, schoolchildren or more broadly for the Beirut population, the structure presided over by Claude El Hage changes the daily life of many inhabitants.
After’deadly explosion at the port of Beirut three years agoin August 2020, Lebanon continued to sink into a political, financial and logistical crisis.
The double explosion of August 4, 2020 left only a field of desolation on the Beirut coastline and in many adjacent neighborhoods. Over 6,500 people were injured that day. • © STR / AFP
In the winter of 2021, Claude El Hage materializes a desire that dates back several months, that of coming to the aid of the Lebanese people. A country of which he is a native.
The first fundraisers are made during sales of homemade Lebanese products, at the Garoupe lighthouse market, in Antibes, his adopted land for more than 30 years.
“We wanted to wait a short year after the explosion in the port of Beirut to understand how associations and NGOs work on the spot. After this brief reflection, we went to the firefighters of Beirut who protect the population of the city and of his suburbs.
The starting point of the adventure of “L White”. During this first trip, he left in particular with Jean-Paul Veziano, a baker from Antibes to make bread, on site, offered to the poorest, and met the officers of the firefighters of the Lebanese capital.
Claude El Hage, on the left, with Lieutenant Michel El Murr, in the center, and Jean-Paul Veziano on the right. • © Amateur document
Beirut firefighters lack everything. Medicines, equipment, vehicles…
“Plastic chairs” as a seat, in some fire trucks, stretchers that do not fit in the ambulance. And the list of what is lacking in local firefighters listed by Claude El Hage is still long.
The fire department has only three full-scale trucks, two of which are out of order. Their fire suits are outdated. They go into the fire without any real protection for themselves before helping people.
Claude El Hage, president of the association “L Blanches”
“We have, to date, sent for example a boat, a Zodiac, because they have 18 km of coast to protect and did not have the slightest boat to save people at sea.”
Through the SDIS 59the departmental fire and rescue service of the North, a donation from the firefighters, sent to Lebanon this summer.
The Maralpine firefighters were also generous in donations. Firefighters’ clothing (fittings, pants, polo shirts, etc.) was donated by the SDIS 06, notably. On site, the good reception and distribution of these numerous donations is made possible thanks to the presence of the general secretary of the association, a Franco-Lebanese, Eliane Maalouf.
Medical devices or devices have also crossed the Mediterranean to Lebanon, again by cargo ship, on board containers specially chartered from Marseille or Le Havre. Some of these solidarity receptacles can go up to 40 feet, or 12 meters, and accommodate several tons of material.
“It’s absurd, but the Beirut firefighters did not have a defibrillator. We managed to send them 5 last May, which we managed to recover thanks to a Lyon company. It’s a gift that it was delivered on the spot to the commander of the Beirut fire brigade.”
With the help of medical professionals from the Antibes basin, they collect some 2,500 pairs of glasses which he sends to a dispensary in Beirut, along with countless quantities of medicines.
The action of “L White” also extends beyond the Lebanese borders. “Last year we received a donation of 5 sets of hazardous environment rescue, it is to rescue people from being in caves, or going outside of a building, while abseiling.”
During the earthquake in Syria and Turkey, at the beginning of 2023, the Lebanese government sent Beirut firefighters to participate in rescue operations, thanks in particular to this contribution of specific equipment. This allowed some “mothers and children to be safely out of the rubble” Claude El Hage is moved.
We are proud, because we arrive with our small association of three people on the Côte d’Azur to help people in Lebanon, but also to save people outside the country, through an unforeseen, natural disaster.
Claude El Hage, president of the association “L Blanches”
Claude El Hage is in “contact permanent” with the Lebanese firefighters and their commander. His various trips there have made it possible to forge a friendship that distance, beyond the Mediterranean, cannot blur. The soul, then the body. With Antibes nurse Hélène Cayatte, they went to the site in May so that the firefighters could be examined. “For lack of means, they don’t do it for their staff. They haven’t done it for a very long time. One of them even learned that he was almost blind in one eye, not to mention all the pathologies that we have discovered!”.
“We have set up training with nurses from the Beirut firefighters, to ensure this annual medical follow-up, as is done everywhere else.”
Hélène Cayatte, nurse.
Officially, 650 people make up these numbers, but in reality, for Claude El Hage, it is rather about 400 firefighters who are still in service.
“With the economic situation, almost of bankruptcy of the country, not all of them go to work because they no longer have the means to travel. They no longer have the means to buy gasoline […] but the majority are on the spot, in the barracks, day and night, to protect the population. They go on a mission, they accomplish their tasks as well as possible, with very, very old equipment” continues to deplore Claude El Hage.
A fire officer who had a salary of 3000 dollars. Today, he earns about $100. And we are talking about an officer, imagine a little for a simple firefighter!
Claude El Hage, president of the association “L Blanches”
On the spot, many of them survive thanks to the financial aid of the diaspora, exiled here and there, in Mediterranean or Gulf countries. Just like Claude El Hage, who has lived on the Côte d’Azur for 34 years now. Without these Lebanese abroad, life would only be harder for a whole section of the population.
Between these two shores of the Mediterranean, no permanent air link from Nice is made by direct flight. Only in summer, flights are operated between the Lebanese capital and the City of Angels.
Claude is also working to reinstate this air link, “without playing politics”, he specifies. This is how he met the senator Alexandra Borchio Fontimp to relay the request of Franco-Lebanese wishing to be able to reach the two destinations without going through international hubs where, sometimes, it takes several stopovers and 20 to 30 hours to reach Beirut, which is barely a little more than 3000 kilometers.
“If we want Lebanese to come visit, invest or study on the Côte d’Azur, that’s how we can do it. I don’t want them to go to Greece or Turkey I defend this region, the Côte d’Azur, which resembles Lebanon in every way, in a country that I love.”
In the meantime, Claude and his association continue the gourmet markets, events and collection of donations. Shipments to Lebanon have become regular, as in July, where this time it was schoolchildren who were able to benefit from this solidarity.
To help the association, it is possible to carry out a online donation, or to become a member of “L White”.
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