August 4th, the port of Beirut exploded and took down with it countless buildings, houses, hospitals, and roads in several districts of the capital.
The destruction is apocalyptic, no debate there. As a first estimation only, the losses amount to over $15 Billion. That how deep and wide the devastation is.
The city is wrecked by disasters wherever the eyes land, let alone the site of the explosion, the port.
However, there standing, remarkably barely impacted, is the statue of The Lebanese Emigrant.
Just there, amid the horrific devastation, the Lebanese Emigrant stands, almost untouched, as if calling for those who left to stand up for their homeland, and reassuring the Lebanese people that they are not alone; their diaspora is there for them.
The Lebanese Emigrant statue was set up in 2002 by Mexicans of Lebanese descent.
Back then, the Board of Directors of the Centro Libanés, established in Mexico City in 1967, commissioned Ramis Barquet, a Mexican artist with Lebanese roots, to create a statue in honor of Lebanese emigrants.
This statue represents those who migrated to Mexico, America, Australia, and all other countries, and reminds the Lebanese today of our mahjar history.
Today, during these terrible times on the Lebanese people, it stands tall and strong amid the chaos, having defied the mighty explosion to remind the diaspora of their roots, there in the land that is counting on their help.
