PUC Students Travel to Beirut to Aid in Relief Efforts
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n August 4, a huge blast struck the Lebanese capital city of Beirut, killing at least 135 people, wounding more than 5,000, and leaving more than 300,000 people homeless. On the other side of the world, Pacific Union College students Alex Nelson and Gilund Fayard were spending their summer working as guides for an outdoor adventure company. When given the opportunity to join relief efforts in Beirut, both young men jumped at the opportunity.
What made you decide to travel to Beirut? Gil: I decided to go based on my personal connections, my skill set, and my flexibility. This summer, I worked as a guide for an outdoor adventure company called “Way to Moab” in Utah. My employers have connections to a nonprofit organization called Gideon Rescue Company, which has responded to nearly every domestic and international disaster for the last several years. They invited the Way to Moab guides to go to Beirut with them. I knew I would get to use my skills in emergency medical care and technical rescue. Additionally, as a full-time student, I don’t have flexibility most of the year; because it was summer, I could leave for a week to serve. The final factor in my decision to go to Beirut was that I felt a calling to risk my comfort and security so I could show God’s love through service to a struggling nation. Have you responded to other disasters? Alex: Not exactly, but my family was living in the Dominican Republic at the time of the massive Haiti
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earthquake in 2010. We felt it where we lived, and my dad, who is an orthopedic surgeon, was on the ground in Haiti (which borders the D.R.) just a few days after the quake. When I came over a few months later, the country was still in ruins. As an 11-year-old I wasn't very helpful in the disaster recovery operations, but that experience piqued my interest in disaster relief. You’re in the emergency services program at PUC. Do you have any other training/certificates? Gil: Through PUC’s emergency services program, I’ve been training as an emergency medical technician (EMT), along with technical rope rescue, swift water rescue, search and rescue, and emergency vehicle operations. I’ve also been trained as a firefighter through Napa County’s CALFIRE volunteer fire academy. I’m an active member of the Angwin Volunteer Fire Department as a firefighter EMT during the school year. What were your days in Beirut like? Alex: Almost every day was different. The first two days we worked in the mobile clinic with Makassed General Hospital. On Friday I worked with AlMakan, a grassroots relief organization that
