From Displacement to Self-Reliance: Bint Jbeil Residents Seek a “Fishing Rod, Not a Fish” as Traditional Organizations Fail to Address Their Suffering

Exclusive | Bint Jbeil Website

Bint Jbeil is no longer a town defined by slogans. Today, harsh reality has eclipsed everything else. The town remains under occupation, while its residents have been displaced and scattered across Lebanon, from the mountains to the coast, enduring one of the most difficult chapters in their history.

Yet amid this humanitarian catastrophe, the people of Bint Jbeil refuse to surrender to hardship. Instead, they are fighting to reclaim their dignity through work, determined to rebuild their lives through their own efforts.

Between displacement centers and rented homes, one message is heard repeatedly among families: “Give me a fishing rod, not a fish.” People are not looking for food parcels that disappear within days. They are looking for a lathe, carpentry tools, sewing equipment, construction tools, or a modest amount of capital to start a small business that will allow them to provide for their families with dignity, without having to depend on charity.

Faced with these challenges, the people of Bint Jbeil have not stood idly by. Individual acts of solidarity have emerged through WhatsApp groups, where residents have organized fundraising efforts to provide urgent assistance. More recently, Bint Jbeil’s media platforms also launched a commendable initiative by offering free advertisements to any resident who starts a new business or profession in their place of displacement.

While these efforts are meaningful and appreciated, the scale of the crisis is far greater than what individual initiatives alone can address. Political parties have largely remained absent from the people’s day-to-day struggles. The municipality continues to operate under severe financial constraints and institutional paralysis. Meanwhile, the traditional organizations that have long operated under the name of Bint Jbeil, both inside and outside the town, have, according to the experience of this crisis, proven unable to provide meaningful support during one of the community’s darkest moments, leaving many families to face an uncertain future on their own.

At the same time, the Bint Jbeil diaspora, particularly in the United States and Australia, has demonstrated remarkable solidarity. Throughout the months of war, expatriates provided direct financial assistance to their relatives and loved ones whenever possible. However, support from one family member to another, while invaluable, remains limited in its long-term impact and cannot create sustainable economic recovery.

Today, expatriates in cities such as Detroit and Sydney are searching for an institution they can genuinely trust, one that operates with the highest standards of financial accountability, administrative transparency, and professional governance. This is precisely why many people from Bint Jbeil are now calling for a new organization born out of this crisis, one that is independent of political parties, free from political influence, and not driven by family loyalties or social prestige.

What the displaced people of Bint Jbeil need today is an institutional framework driven by an independent, youthful spirit, bringing together qualified individuals from every segment of the community without discrimination. Such an organization should be capable of reaching the global diaspora, building partnerships with international organizations and institutions, and operating with complete transparency and credibility.

The objective is not to establish another traditional charity focused solely on distributing food aid. Rather, what is needed is a development and empowerment fund that purchases equipment for aspiring entrepreneurs, provides tools for skilled tradespeople, and offers small loans that enable displaced residents of Bint Jbeil to launch businesses and rebuild their economic independence wherever they currently reside.

According to Bint Jbeil Website’s reporting, many families have already begun rebuilding their lives using whatever limited resources they still possess. But genuine recovery will require far more than individual determination. It will require a credible institution capable of empowering people rather than merely assisting them.

The time has come for dedicated sons and daughters of Bint Jbeil to come together and lay the foundation for a transparent, independent institution that can restore confidence, mobilize the support of the diaspora, and demonstrate that the people of Bint Jbeil are capable of overcoming economic hardship through their own determination, hard work, and unwavering dignity.

---