We sit in a medium-sized conference room. Littered on all four walls were dusty file cabinets and videotapes. “Some conference room” I thought to myself. We had all worn our orange overalls and black rubber boots, masks rolled up, ready to cover our faces when it was time. The leader recapped the plan in a 30-second summary before he received the signal. “Good Luck” he said as he retreated to his operations room and we began our fast descent down the two flights of stairs.

Black, tinted vehicles awaited us. We divided ourselves, four in each car, four cars total. 16 masked men and women, one might even consider some of them children. Nevertheless, the four-car-convoy sped through the streets of Hamra, Bab Idriss, up the Ring, down Monot, through Riad el Solh Square and onto the Financial District Street. Seconds later, we dismounted our vehicles and began assembling our most precious cargo, it was still a skeleton on the ground beneath the Roman Stairs. It was rectangular, 4 meters wide and 2 meters high. We were attracting attention already…

Who could blame them? 16 masked figures in Orange overalls assembling something titanic in the middle of Lebanon’s capital were something definitely worth any passerby’s attention. I noticed some of those passerbies were not ordinary citizens. They were ministerial guards, in civilian garments. Butterflies began to hover in our stomachs.

When one of the dim-witted guards managed to read the word emblazoned on our backs, he said “Haydeh Shirket Shu?” (What kinda company is this?). I couldn’t hold back the chuckles, and he couldn’t hold back the scowl. Ah well, might as well distract him as the rest deploy the banner.

The cameras were 6 now, local and international, with the 7th being our own personal cameraman. Apparently, a handful of amateur photographers also got word of the direct action and wanted a piece of it. We didn’t mind, in fact, that was the whole point of our non-violent, yet somewhat aggressive action.

Then, the 4m-wide, 2m-high flex banner was unfurled on top of the wooden skeleton, and fastened tightly. The amazingly competent security officials recognized their supreme leader. Here, the tension soared, with us being manhandled and talked to ‘3a janab’ (to the side). My temper rose with the tension, and I began indicating that we had the necessary permission, and that we had every right to display the banner and show it to the world. All their well-below-average IQs registered “Saad el Hariri”.

The banner showed the Lebanese prime minister, doctored in the photo to look 20 years older. Next to it, the phrase “3afwan, tarakna el 7ale zay ma hiyyeh, w ma daghatna 3al s3oodiyeh” (sorry, we left the situation as it is, we did not pressure the KSA). The zay ma hiyyeh (used in political campaigns in Lebanon to demonstrate blind allegiance) definitely did the trick. The bald drunk ordered the press away, the other one who looked like a motel concierge (which I thought he was until he introduced himself for the 3rd time) asked us to delete our memory cards and leave the premises.

We had to act fast. We blended in (or tried to) with the crowd and our cameraman jumped into a cab with a fully loaded camera. Minutes later, he was back in the operations room. When, to my utmost’s surprise, one of the security ‘officials’ knew where the memory card of a camera was, he discovered none of the 6 cameras left had any. Yes, I had sent all 6, with the backed up photos, with our trusty cameraman. I convinced the gentleman (cough, cough) that these new cameras did not come with a memory card, and that the salesman who sold his niece the camera, which had allowed him to come familiar with the term ‘memory card’, had cheated them.

My insistence on finishing the whole plan was constantly blocked by these annoying servicemen. Some of my fellows were also beginning to chicken out. So, as is so customary in our world, I asked one of them to take a photo of her so she could use as a profile picture on Facebook (which is prohibited by our bylaws) but instead, focused the frame on the 14 activists who had modified the banner to say, that our prime minister had taken the right choices, thank you.

My finger became trigger-happy and the Neanderthals caught on to what I was doing. I refused to hand the camera, and walked towards one of the parked cars, and took off. After delivering my precious cargo, I came back for the rest. We mounted our banner on the car roof, and as we were about to leave, received a stern warning. After taking down all our names, they threatened us that if these pictures were to be circulated anywhere, we would be in trouble. I answered “Killak zo2 ya rayyess, niyyel el watan fikon” (you are so kind chief, the nation is lucky to have people like you)

Minutes later, we consulted with the organization lawyers and they said it was all safe. We did nothing wrong since the Lebanese constitution (and the Human Rights Declaration) safeguards our right to freedom of speech and expression.

What’s sad is that the serviceman thought Greenpeace was a company that sells stuff. What is even sadder is that they didn’t really care except when they saw PM Hariri on the banner (which was the Lebanese head of delegation to Copenhagen). What’s depressing is that not enough people got the message, especially in Lebanon. What’s horrifying is some of us were scared of being persecuted by the authorities for holding up a banner to raise awareness on climate change. And for you wondering why the KSA was mentioned, is because it was sabotaging the talks, which if successful (and unfortunately they were not), would deliver a serious blow to the oil-fueled-economy of the KSA.

People, the dismal failure of Copenhagen should not deter us from our ambitions: leaving a world behind for our children and grandchildren. Already a multitude of island-nations are sinking, and in a couple of years, these whole nations will disappear off the face of the Earth. One might understand that if not proven, lack of action is imminent. Yet, these nations were allowed to purchase land on other nations to claim it as their own when their current homes are submerged by rising sea-levels. This indicates that everyone knows climate change is not a myth, but a very grim reality. Bur we are all too selfish (with rich nations clinging to their money, and poorer ones exploiting their economic status to siphon money from the richer ones) to realize that without the Earth, there is nothing else left to live on, or live for…

Today’s post is about the NGO (non-governmental organization) which has everyone signing up, the AUB Red Cross on high alert, and countless people direly in need getting the help that one year ago would have been practically unattainable (except with exceptional luck and maybe some good insurance)

For those of you who did not already guess, the NGO I’m talking about is Donner Sang Compter (DSC). Founded by LAU Pharmacy student Yorgi Teyrouz, (Yorgi without a u frenchies)

DSC is a key player in an issue which has been plaguing Lebanon for many years now. DSC acts as a link between healthy donors, and patients in need of blood. Despite the basic and obvious necessity of such an organization, the existing institutions that deal with this issue had serious shortcomings. At this point, I would like to salute the Lebanese Red Cross and their blood bank, which has and continues to save lives of thousands of people each year, and makes sure Lebanon has enough blood to keep it going, God-forbid any disaster may befall us.

It is the bureaucracy and liability barriers that hinder the life-saving 500ml bag from getting into the veins of a patient. Often, large private hospitals do not share their units of blood with lesser hospitals for fears of liability and legal issues should the blood being transferred cause adverse reactions. Therefore, the unlucky automobile crash victim in small hospital X will most probably not get the ‘life in a bag’ from the richer, bigger hospital Y…

This is where DSC jumps in. DSC is not a blood bank, we do not extract the blood ourselves and we do not have refrigerators where we store the blood in. We get a call from someone in need and we get the blood type and the necessary details too. The next step is simply getting in contact with our generous donors in the area (to minimize the hassle and disturbance to their daily life), more specifically, those who have not given blood in at least 3-months and fulfill the necessary criteria to ensure their safety and the safety of the patients.  With that, a total of 2 calls, maybe 3, a donor can save someone’s life.

Today, Donner Sang Compter now boasts over 11,000 donors and supporter, in addition to dozens of dedicated volunteers. Even though the DSC started off with devoted scouts members, it has grown exponentially to include young, healthy people from all over Lebanon and even a handful of international donors who currently reside in Lebanon. This has attracted a lot of attention of course from many important people and institutions, with DSC winning several awards for excellence, pioneering, and charity work. Most prominent of which was the King Hussein Abdullah Award for distinguished youths (is that it’s name? =P, sorry Yorgi)

The fact that DSC exists is one that brings hope to so many… But it is also very sad… The fact that so many of us must volunteer so that people do not die of blood loss, while the government and other institutions sit, arms-crossed, is sad. In fact, the signs are beginning to appear, for the man behind it all, and many others of course, need to struggle to balance DSC, university, social life, and other things such as scouts. And despite the fact that with the support of people, their generosity, and plain-old good hearts, with no official backing or legislation there are many obstacles to tackle. One thing we can do, or rather two things, is help DSC and continue its work vigorously, in the hope one day we will realize the goal of a centralized blood bank in Lebanon which has a fair blood distribution policy that can cover anyone, anywhere…

To find out how you can help, to join, or to get more info on DSC, please visit http://www.donnersangcompter.org/

For a fun game concerning Blood Typing (which isn’t as easy as it seems) go to: http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/medicine/landsteiner/landsteiner.html