Concerned veteran Bert offers Lebanon a helping hand: 'The situation has only got worse'

Schalkhaar, 4 October 2024                            
© text Luuk ten Kleij / photos Ruben Meijerink

He served there as a soldier in 1980 and is still closely involved in the country.

Bert Kleine Schaars from Deventer is now following the situation in Lebanon with concern. Earlier this week, the Israeli army invaded the country. For Kleine Schaars, this is a reason to collect medical supplies. 'This country does not deserve to be the plaything of other powers'.
Kleine Schaars was sent to Lebanon as a soldier 44 years ago - he was 19. The country was in the midst of a civil war. Kleine Schaars was part of the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission.
Since then, the country has not really calmed down. "The conflict has been almost repetitive over the decades," says Kleine Schaars. The difference for me between then and now is that back then you had a function, a task, you were engaged in it. You tried to keep things apart as a peacemaker. When I look at it now, a lot of people in the south really have a face, as we have been so involved with return trips and aid projects. He knows 'a lot of people' who are now on the run.

Insecurity, fear and powerlessness
Kleine Schaars, who is active as a councillor for Deventer Belang, still visits Lebanon two or three times a year. He was last there in April 2023. A trip was also planned for last October, but was cancelled after the start of the war between Hamas and Israel.
We were supposed to go to the Israeli border. That is where we were at the time. We cancelled and postponed both trips on 8 October. And I say that very optimistically: postponed. In the meantime, the situation has only worsened.
Earlier this week, the Israeli army launched a ground offensive in Lebanon. Kleine Schaars is still in 'constant' contact with people in the country. They have all fled. What do they feel? Fear. They don't really sleep. You hear explosions and blasts all the time. And how close is it? You just don't know. The uncertainty, the fear, the helplessness.

To lend a helping hand, Kleine Schaars has started collecting medical supplies. We know the Lebanese ambassador in The Hague very well. He contacted us immediately last week. Lebanon is particularly in need of medicines and medical equipment. All the hospitals are full. The need is great, the urgency is great. And then Klein Schaars thought: I have to help.

Offering a future
Kleine Schaars set up the Veterans for Lebanon Foundation in 2020, after a warehouse in the port of the capital Beirut exploded on 4 August that year. Hundreds of people lost their lives.
The country has been on its knees since 2020 and the Corona crisis, also because it is very dependent on tourism and things like that. The older generation knows nothing but conflict. We believe in giving the children a future and that is what we are trying to invest in.
Meanwhile, about eight pallets of medical supplies are waiting in Amsterdam. We are now trying, in consultation with the ambassador or the foreign ministry, to get them to Lebanon as soon as possible.

Insisting
It is mainly logistics companies and wholesalers who are donating items, from syringes to anaesthetic machines and oxygen equipment. No medicines. I can go to a pharmacy and ask for some pills, but you won't get them. You can only take this message to the Dutch government. Guys, do something.
If medicines in hospitals in the Netherlands have a shelf life of less than three months, they are destroyed,' argues Kleine Schaars. I would rather we collected them now and put them on a plane to Lebanon. I can only say that the need is there. Insist on it.
Meanwhile, Kleine Schaars is also looking ahead. I am optimistic by nature. And I always have hope. For a good future. It is such a beautiful country, with wonderful people. And this country does not deserve to be the plaything of other powers that prevent it from recovering and rebuilding itself.