Ramy & Roula Taleb: Teaching Forgiveness in Lebanon

This podcast is the story of the remarkable work of Ramy and Roula Taleb, how they journeyed to Belfast and are now making peace in Lebanon. For the last 18 years Jonny and Jenn Clark and their team have raised funds for young Christians from areas of conflict to spend 6-12 months in Belfast or Rostrevor, Northern Ireland learning about reconciliation and how their faith can build peace in their communities. Ramy was the first Lebanese trainee and landed into Belfast in 2005, barely speaking English but with a deep hunger to learn from the experience. He ended up spending five years in Belfast, particularly working in the Shankill and Falls areas. One of the projects Ramy focused on in Belfast was a project which takes Forgiveness education into many Protestant and Catholic schools in the city.

By 2010 Ramy had married the beautiful Roula and together they started a new life back in Lebanon, ultimately starting a sister project of the Belfast work called the Foundation for Forgiveness and Reconciliation (ffrlebanon.org). The work in Lebanon is unprecedented in it’s radical commitment to building bridges throughout the sectarian divides of this post-civil war country. Ramy and Roula are courageously taking forgiveness, reconciliation and peace-building training to as many people as they can and are often doing it with what little resources they can find. If you are looking to support a grass-roots charity in the Middle East you should check out the work of FFR and get behind them.

This work in Lebanon is something all of the GOTF team are passionate about and it’s why Josh Eaves (Instagram: @josheaves1) and Jonny Clark continue to be involved in different ways, including our plans to make our next Guardians Of The Flame documentary there. This episode was as usual recorded by the brilliant Fra Sands of @safeplacestudios. The music in our podcasts is by the brilliant Irish folk band @naleanai