Wonderful to report that Midd Legend and true gentleman, Richard Verity, has taken a year out to act as interim CEO for an organisation called Basmeh & Zeitooneh - www.basmeh-zeitooneh.org.

About Basmeh & Zeitooneh

The organisation –
• aspires to live up to its name by bringing smiles and peace to those it serves. In Arabic “basmeh,” means smile and “zeitooneh,” means olive, a symbol of peace and nourishment.
• believes its role is to create avenues to empower those affected by conflict by developing their skills and reviving their sense of humanity and dignity. To that end it opened its first community center in Shatila, in the suburbs of Beirut, in May 2013. The center was created to establish a reference point for Syrian refugees in an area neglected by other aid organizations, where they can seek direct assistance and information and learn income-generating skills.

Richard’s Golden Week

Here is Richard’s blog –

“This was a golden week – for me – thanks to the cricket camp we organised at Shatila.
Cricket is a strange, beautiful game that can be played by boys or girls, tall or small, strong or weak, fast or slow. More importantly it is a game of peace. It brings together Christians and Muslims, Asians and Europeans and all skin colours. Some highlights:

• Day 2. On day 1 we requested- and received - about 25 children in each of the two sessions. Well done Omar Farran for magnificent organisation. He booked the sports-ground and invited the children. But on day 2, he and we were amazed when 60 children turned up to play. News travels fast in Shatila. The children had told their friends that cricket was fun – and they all turned up.

• The facilitators. Omar enlisted around 10 arabic-speaking facilitators to help the coaches from Britain. These facilitators had never heard of cricket. But that didn’t matter. They knew how to manage children. I have never seen such happy and excited children. The facilitators made that happen.

• The ambassadors. We are now on speaking terms with five ambassadors (Britain, India,
Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh – the cricket playing nations). We
invited them all to watch the cricket. Most of them responded personally and one of them,
his excellency the ambassador of Bangladesh honoured us with a visit.

• Playing cricket. As may be obvious by now I love to play cricket. Sadly, however, I’m not
especially talented. When I play back in England I represent North Middlesex 4 th XI – a proud team but not one that plays at the highest level. This should mean that I am not competitive. Quite the opposite. I am. In the attached photo you see me trying to “run out” a nine-year old boy. As you can see, he and I are both taking the game super-seriously. I like the expressions of the other children watching. They are amazed and amused in equal measure.

I hope all is well with you.
Richard.”

Richard - Keep up the good work – we are all very proud of what you are doing. If any North Midd people would like to donate to Basmeh & Zeitooneh they can do so via web - www.basmeh-zeitooneh.org