Ehden is justifiably proud that it has produced three Maronite Patriarchs and a leading academic and biblical translator in the 16th Century. But what of later centuries and of today. In a series of articles we shall explore the contributions, both past and present, to the Maronite Church, by those who were born in Zgharta Zaiwe.

Within the episcopacy* of the Maronite Church today there are presently six living churchmen who were born in Zgharta Zawie.

They hold or have held the positions of, Vicar Apostolic of Beirut; Archbishop of Antelias, Baghdad and Cyprus; Bishop of Batroun, St Maron of Brooklyn and of Sydney; Vicar General Patriarchal of Zgharta. Of the six, there are four who were born in Zgharta/Ehden, one in Aitou and another in Arbet Kozhaya.

During our research for this article we found, to our surprise, that the Armenian Catholic Bishop of Alexandria, Egypt, Bishop Raphael Bayan, was born in Zgharta on 28th February 1914. He was ordained a priest on 1st November 1937; appointed the Aremenian Catholic Bishop of Alexandria, Egypt on 12th December 1958; dying on 21st September 1999. We are interested to learn more about the early life of Bishop Bayan and would welcome any further information on him.

Our next article shall visit the intervening centuries and to explore the reasons why in the 19th Century we could find no trace of anyone holding such positions who were born Zgharta Zawie.

The six living churchmen of Zgharta Zawie appear on the Full Story page.
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We are delighted to introduce to our readers, Hamid Albert Frangieh, whose YouTube videos now appear in our video section ZTv.

He lives in Venezuela and has been able to combine his love of music and the recording of images into a busy and successful career both as a photographer and video clip director. Hamid known by his childhood nickname, Beto, says that, "most of my photography work has been with musicians and recording artists. Through the years my involvement and relationship with them has grown into various collaborations, one of which now is videos".

As for the man himself, Hamid was born in 1956 in Mexico, one of five brothers and sisters. His father, Alberto Ramón Frangieh Fadl, also born in Mexico, and was the son of Zghartawien emigrants, Boulos Frangieh and Essi Fadl, who first emigrated to Mexico in 1917. Hamid's mother, Maria Elena Virginia Moro Garduilo, is also Mexican born. Hamid's father is the first cousin to President Sleiman Kabalan Frangieh and his other brothers.

Hamid's family moved from Mexico to Venezuela in 1959, living in the second largest city of the country, Maracaibo, in the north-western state of Zulia. Hamid has lived and worked in the city ever since.

To read more about him and his videos go to the Full Story page.
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We are very pleased to offer our readers the opportunity to read online, Mikhael S. Doueihi, new book, "Patriarch Estefan Doueihi: A Biography", which he published himself.

The book encompasses the life and work of the Patriarch, recounting his lifetime undertaking to record the history of the Maronites; his contribution to both the Maronite Church and national politics; with a résumé of his writings and miracles. The book is written for the general reader who has little or no knowledge of the Patriarch and Lebanon. It also shows the struggle for survival of the early Maronites, which will have resonance with many today.

The author was born in 1955, Zgharta to Sarkis Boutros Baba and Yvonne Esber (née Karam) Al Doueihi. He completed his secondary school at the College de la Ste Famille in Tripoli. In 1980, he obtained his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois, USA. Subsequently in 1987, he completed his Masters in Business Administration.

In 1980, he joined the multi international company, Caterpillar Inc. since when he has held various management and executive positions in the fields of engineering, marketing, sales, manufacturing and strategy development, in the USA, France, Switzerland, Brazil and currently in China.

In 1987, he married Norma Sleiman Zakhia Al Doueihi ( née Doueihi) and they have four daughters, Alice, Stephanie, Magali and Lea.

Mikhael has had a long interest in the life and times of Patriarch Estefan Doueihi. As early as 1973 he was the President of the Cultural Committee for Patriarch Estefan Doueihi. The Committee focused on publishing the Patriarch's works and developing social responsibility and participation in sport among the youth of Zgharta-Ehden. The Committee, Mihkael recalls, "had even then, the early vision to seek the canonization of the Patriarch".

The idea of writing the book, Mikhael says, arose from his travels and conversations with fellow Maronites in the many countries he visited. "There was an apparent thirst for knowledge about the Patriarch and his contribution to the Maronite faith and, in many ways, his role in building the Maronite-Lebanese national identity; with its aspiration to be both a well-rooted Middle-Eastern community with yet a strong connection to the West", he says .

"There is little literature about the Patriarch, if at all, in the English language, for the general reader", Mikhael says, "the majority of books, even now, are in Arabic or French, written by scholars and churchmen; yet I found that some of the literature lacked a clear and easy flow of the biographical detail. I wanted to make the Patriarch more accessible. In addition, I always felt that the Lebanese and expatriate Maronites wanted to know more about their Church and heritage, in order to connect with the great love and passion their parents keep for Lebanon."

It has taken two years to research and write the book, in between his work and raising a family of four beautiful and active daughters.

The book is written in English and consists of 36 pages, with a double-page map of Kadisha and Ehden, notated with the Holy sites and colour photographs, and measures 23 cm x 15 cm .

The book will be distributed in selected Maronite communities, in particular Australia, Canada, Central and South America and the USA. Zgharta.com is honoured to have been asked by the author to use its online presence to make the book accessible to a wider readership.

To purchase the book online for US$8 ( LL 12,000), first, click the below "Buy Now" icon to complete the credit card transaction via PayPal , you will then be given a password which can only be used once, then click on this link to download the book.

For those living in Zgharta only and who wish to purchase the book online by cash, send us an email with your name/ mobile/phone number to us at contact@zgharta.com, when we shall contact you as to where to pay.

The author has generously donated the sale proceeds of the book in support of our site.

As part of an occasional series on individuals from Zgharta Zawie who have excelled in their life and contributed to the Zgharta Zawie community we feature today Dr Joseph Maarrawi.

In recent weeks he has been making medical history at the North Lebanon Medical Centre where he is the Head of Neurosurgery. He had operated on a local patient who suffered from severe epilepsy over the years, which was a first of its kind for the Centre and the North of Lebanon. This procedure has only been undertaken in Lebanon before on two or three occasions, in Beirut.

Dr Maarrawi was born in 1971, Zgharta, his parents are Maroun and Leila (née Barakat), his father is the well-known Director of the Miziara Governmental School. He is the eldest in a family of three sisters. Like many of his contemporaries he first attended the College de La Salle, Kfaryachit.

When asked why he chose medicine as a career he says, “ When I was young boy, I was fascinated by advances in science and technology. Although I did read the normal kids stuff, I enjoyed reading innovative articles on science. I always thought that the most important career in the world was applying technical advances in science to medicine, so that humankind could take direct advantage of science to improve everyone’s health. Idealist I know, but even as get older I still have the same vision.”

To read more about Dr Maarrawi and the operation go to the Full Story page.


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As part of an occasional series on artists from Zgharta Zawie we feature today, Yasmine Jeitani.

We believe that Yasmine is an up and coming artist, who much will be heard of as time goes on, both in painting and computer inspired imagery.

She was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, 1980, arriving in Zgharta, as a two month baby with her parents Fawzi and May (née Araygi), which has been her base ever since. To read more about her and see examples of her work go to the Full Story Page.


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In our first article on local government in Lebanon, “Municipal Unions, Councils and Presidents”, we examined their respective powers and functions. In this article we examine the question of revenue and expenditure of local government. Online sources of data are sparse, although since 2004 there has been an increasing amount of data being made available. One reason for this is because there are an increasing number of programmes funded by USAID, to computerise the gathering of local information for revenue purpose. It is also encouraging greater transparency by councils in respect of financial matters, as demonstrated by their flagship council in Jounieh.

The subject of council’s revenue is topical. As we reported on 9th February 2007, “Central Government Funding for Zgharta Zawie”, the President of the Zgharta Ehden Municipal Council, Gen Joseph Maarrawi, held a press conference stating that the Lebanese Government had cut its contribution to the municipal councils of Zgharta Zawie and their Union in 2006 and 2007. The article featured the data supplied by the President. We have not heard, incidentally, whether the Central Government responded to the President, publicly or otherwise, as a result of the widely reported press conference, and to what end.

A 2001 survey by the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies (LCPS) showed that of 350 municipalities, 26% relied on direct collection and 72% on central funding. No recent reports indicate what are the current percentages, but it is thought that still a high proportion of municipalities continue to rely on central government funding. However what seems to be happening is that the central government has since 2004 been trying to increase the revenue collected by councils from direct sources rather than from central funds. It is of note that in a World Bank workshop paper commissioned in 2000/2001, on local government finance, it said of the Independent Municipal Fund (IMF), which is the conduit for central government funding, that,

“A significant portion of the IMF revenue comes from customs duties. With the signing of the partnership agreement with Europe and the conditions related to WTO, tariffs are going to decline gradually towards zero over the next 12 years. This will gradually but seriously undermine recovery in the IMF and its ability to assist municipal development”.

This indicates that municipalities will increasingly be required to finance themselves from their own resources and endeavours. As will be seen below, reports to USAID are indicating an increase in direct revenue for municipalities.

The amount of other revenue sources for the Zgharta Ehden Municipal Council in 2006 have not been made available to us by the Council. So we do not know what proportion of its total revenue has been reduced by the alleged cuts and what are its plans to replace any shortfall, if any.

To read more about the subject go to the full story.
 

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