Michael Bechara Participates in Community Service to Mark MEPI Day of Service

April 6 is the MEPI Day of Service, a MEPI movement that encourages  TL students Alumni to plan and participate in community service activities that enhance and nurture their teamwork spirit, leadership and decision-making skills.

On this occasion, Michael Bechara, an LAU MEPI TL Alumnus, reached out to “Bonheur du Ciel” (Heaven’s Joy), a nonprofit association that accommodates drug-addicted youth, offering them attention, love and guide them to live with serenity in the light of the Word of God.

The association’s values, based on spiritualism yet against discrimination, caught Bechara’s attention who is an advocate for human rights after having previously suffered from bigotry because of his cult. Bechara coordinated with Virginia Moubarak, an LAU MEPI TL student who leads the LAU MEPI TL Activities Committee, and planned a volunteering visit to the association.

The students were surprised by the association’s approach in defining the act voluntarism in social welfare. Instead of providing services of daily tasks like cleaning and cooking, the students were asked to simply give a listening ear to the house’s guests and spend quality time with them. This created a unique bond between the latter and the TLers.

At the end of the Day of Service, the students found out that it was a give and take experience. While they were listening to testimonies of drug addicted youth and giving them attention, they experienced in return the strong coexistence value between all of them amid their different backgrounds. “We do not need magic to change the world or draw smiles on peoples’ faces, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already, especially as Tomorrow’s Leaders” Bechara reaffirmed.