Bashar Kalai’s Speech at The Lebanon Times Gala
“Thank you mayor Turner for the kind words and thank you all for being here tonight.
Lebanon Times has been writing the stories of the Arab community here in Houston for years, introducing us to the many generations of immigrants, their accomplishments, their joy and laughter and simply to each other.
Tonight, I would like to introduce Lebanon Times to you.
Lebanon Times is the story of two people Nabil Habbaki and Julia Nader. Two people who love to write but above all love to give.
They believe as Gibran Khalil Gibran once wrote: “You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”
I know Nabil and Julia, they give us all of their selves. They write not for fame nor gold, they write selflessly to tell the stories of millions of immigrants from the Eastern shores of the Mediterranean to West Africa, north and South America.
Stories like that of Abdo Farah, a Brazilian mogul who flew the remains of his father to southern Lebanon to be buried as that was his dying wish. Unable to fulfill it upon his death, he never forgotten to do it when made his fortune and still flies from Brazil to visit his grave.
Nabil and Julia were born to write and photograph.
Nabil was born in Baabda in 1946 in a house of thinkers and writers. His father Salim Habbaki established the Press and Editors Union in Lebanon and was an advisor to King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. He was one of the heroes of Independence and taught Nabil from a very young age the love of Arabic literature, the gift of writing and above all empathy and giving. Nabil followed the path of his father graduating from college in journalism and working for the Hayat magazine, Al Hawadeth then worked with Gibran Teini in Al Nahar Al Arabi. He also set up several radio stations and worked for LBC TV Station.
Julia on the other hand was born with a camera; I have never seen her without one.
She attended school at Al Achrafieh, and college for Journalism in Beirut. She left to France to do her graduate work in Journalism and Photography during the civil war in Lebanon. Julia expresses herself through the lens capturing the community’s celebrations, triumphs and tribulations and yes history.
In Beirut, she is known as the photographer of presidents and kings. In Houston, she is the window to all of us, the face we see at every gathering and the pulse of our community.
Nabil and Julia established the Al Hader magazine in 1994 not just to cover the stories of these immigrants but to live them.
When you ask them, who influenced your thinking
most, they say Gibran Khalil Gibran. It is Gibran they say because of his spirituality, his love for Lebanon and Arab lands.
Gibran immigrated to the United States over a century ago and made this great country home. He blossomed here and did some of his best work. This country gave him that opportunity as it does to all of us to be free, to work, prosper and change the world.
Nabil and Julia, it is because he also shared your passion, your humanity as the spirit of the divine to walk among people speaking of compassion and pointing to the way of life.
Nabil and Julia are the spiritual friends of Gibran as Gibran spoke of them decades before their birth in his book “a tear and a smile” when he said
“I love you when you prostrate yourself in your mosque, and kneel in your church and pray in your synagogue. You and I are the sons of one faith. I love you for the love of the truth arising from the minds of all people. The truth I see not now because of my blindness but I hold it sacred because the truth is of the spirit.” Nabil and Julia, these are the values that we taught the world, we must reteach them to ourselves once more and yes to the world again.
Nabil and Julia chose Houston as the home of Lebanon Times, they could not have made a better choice. Houston is the most diverse city in the country, a hospitable place, a great city and above all it is our home.
Thank you Nabil and Julia for your selflessness, your words, your pictures and above all for your humanity. Please join me in honoring Julia Nader and Nabil Habbaki.”
كانت كلمته مفاجئة لاصحاب الليبانون تايمز فقد اتصل ببعض الصحافيين والشعراء في لبنان وكندا واميركا سعيا لمعلومات عن نبيل حباقي وجوليا نادر لتكون كلمته صادقة ومعبرة فجاءت كلمسة حنان.
وفي نهاية الكلمة قدمت الليبانون تايمز لوحة تقديرية لصاحب الايادي البيضاء بشار قلعي اخ الجالية العربية وابن الدبلوماسية .وشكرا على تشجيعك ودعمك ومحبتك
