Friends of the Sea (FOS)

Background

Friends of the Sea is a small organization that was founded by young people from Anfeh in the summer of 1998. The main goals of FOS are to protect the seashore of Anfeh, educate the people about the importance of underwater environment, and organize environmental activities in Anfeh.

It all started when environmental specialists and members of the WWF in Italy, impressed by the clean water and varieties of sea species near the coast of Anfeh, decided to give lectures to educate people about the importance of their town's sea and how to protect it. For that reason, Mr. Hafez Jreige, an environmental activist in Anfeh, chose a number university students from Anfeh to attend the lectures and training that took place at the Marina Del Sol resort in Anfeh and lasted for two weeks in August and September of 1998.

The people from Anfeh who participated were: Bahzad Daaboul, Dany El-Massih, George Philip Saliba, Hani Al-Dayaa, Jack Azar, Marlene El-Massih, Rania Jreige, and Ziad Bougharios.

The student were touched by the information they learned and decided to found an environmental organization called Friends of the Sea. Hani Al-Dayaa delivered the founding speech in a ceremony attended by a number of people from Anfeh, in which he stressed the importance of unity among all Anfeh's groups and asked the people of Anfeh to help FOS help Anfeh and its seashore.

Cleaning Activities

In the summer of 2000, FOS started in collaboration with the residents of Anfeh, especially those who have chalets on "Taht-El-Reeh", a cleaning campaign in Anfeh.

Based on Jack Azar, a member and one of the founders of FOS, the first year, FOS volunteers posted 22 garbage cans all long "Taht-El-Reeh" shore and changed the plastic bags on a daily basis. Also they volunteered to pick up the garbage every evening and move them to where the garbage truck can pick them up. It wasn’t an easy task because they used to pick more than 25 heavy full bags for a long distance. Every year, they distributed new garbage cans and plastic bags and kept on volunteering to remove the bags in order to keep our beach clean. They also organized cleaning activities in order to clean all Anfeh’s shore. These activities took place three times a year during the summer season. They asked for every person’s help, but they didn't get a big response since very few residents helped us. But the satisfying thing is that they got new faces to join FOS and they are very thankful for that. The event is done in collaboration with the municipality who sends its workers and equipments. Jack wrote "The municipality’s participation is very important for us because it gives us [moral] support and physical help specially in the "khandak" site. We thank the president of the municipality Mr. Makarem Makari for his great work in [Anfeh]."

Summer Activities

One of the main FOS activities is organizing the "Taht-El-Reeh" Summer Marathon, an annual event that takes place on Anfeh's coast. The first marathon took place in August 2001 and included biking, running, swimming, kayaking, diving, sliding down on a rope, and water basketball. The event attracted around 2000 people who came from Anfeh and their neighborhood towns to either participate or watch the race and watch Anfeh’s tourist sites. This first event was mainly supported and sponsored by Anfeh.com and sponsored by Anfeh's shops and municipality. After the race, at sunset in the Phoenician archeological "khandak", the event continued by distributing the prizes to the winners. Then a huge cake was cut and distributed with soft drinks to all peoples on site. Then the Night Beach Party begins and stays until sunrise.

And since then, the event has taken place every summer (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004), and it has been very successful and well supported by the people of Anfeh everywhere.

Spring  Activities

FOS spring activities include hiking and country walks in different locations of Lebanon, as Ehden and Tripoly Islands.

First, I thank my dear friend Jack Azar for having a page for Friends of the Sea on his personal website. It helped a lot as a reference. Second, I thank all the people who stayed in Anfeh and are now making sure Friends of the Sea and its activities stay alive. This is a comfort for us who founded Friends of the Sea but now live overseas.   - Hani

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