Peaceful in the Treetops

I had a truly unique experience while visiting Lebanon recently that was at once peaceful and disturbing. My Lebanese friend invited me to spend the weekend with his extended family in the Bekaa Valley, which is home to about 800,000 Syrian refugees. I was looking forward to visiting his family as I currently live in Jordan far away from my own family in Australia.

Our mission that weekend was a personal one. We set out to release Merlin, an owl that my friend had rescued from mistreatment, back into the wild. A poacher had captured Merlin, in the process damaging his wings, and kept him in a small cage. We drove out to a forest in the Bekaa Valley, the perfect home for an owl to live in peace. There was a campground nearby where children were playing and enjoying the weekend.

My friend placed Merlin’s cage down on the ground and we positioned ourselves with cameras ready to hopefully capture the moment when he flew to freedom. It was quite a warm day in the Bekaa Valley but a lovely breeze was blowing through the trees as we waited for Merlin to gather the strength to fly. 

Unexpectedly, we heard five bangs. At first I thought they might have been from a car backfiring or perhaps even gunshots, but then realised they were bombs going off in Syria, as we were not far from the Syrian border. The fifth bomb was particularly loud.  My Lebanese friends didn’t seem startled by these sounds – it’s sad that some people become desensitized to the sounds of war.

It was such an odd experience to be part of this loving, peaceful act in releasing Merlin back into the wild and know that children were being frightened, and possibly injured, by bombs just over the mountains – not more than 20 kilometres away.

Merlin struggled to take flight, but on the fourth or fifth attempt, he did it. He really did it. We waited for a long while to make sure he was fine. When we left, he looked peaceful in his new home high up in the treetops.

Merlin taking flight.

As Merlin soars freely through the trees and we head towards International Day of Peace on September 21, my hope is that one day soon there will be a peaceful resolution to the Syrian conflict so children and families can return to the country they love.

There are currently over four million Syrian refugees in countries including Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq.  World Vision has reached over 2 million refugees, internally displaced people and vulnerable host community members with assistance including food, water, sanitation, health, child-friendly spaces and remedial education. In response to the needs of Syrian refugees in Europe, World Vision has started distributing baby kits and items for Syrian refugee mothers and their families currently living in camps in northern Serbia.