BEIRUT – The August 4 explosion in Beirut has caused great loss of life and property (see also https://mirrorspectator.com/2020/08/04/massive-explosion-ripped-through-beirut-tekeyan-school-and-armenian-institutions-damaged-video-included/). Among the many Armenian institutions damaged are the Tekeyan School in Bourj Hammoud and the Tekeyan Center in Gemmayze.
The Tekeyan School serves a largely low-income Armenian population in Bourj Hammoud, and, like many other Lebanese institutions, was already struggling during the difficulties of the recent Lebanese economic crisis, compounded with the arrival of the novel coronavirus. The Tekeyan Cultural Association of the United States and Canada had sent the school financial assistance this year, but now it is clear that the need is much greater and much more urgent.
The principal of the Tekeyan School, Galina Shememian Nadjarian, related the situation the day after the explosion, on August 5. Still clearly shaken, she said, “Yesterday, we lived through an utter nightmare. We did not understand what happened. Only now are some explanations emerging about the situation and its causes. It took place yesterday at approximately 6 or 6:30 p.m. our time. While I pulled myself together, I received photographs from the school’s guard. I rushed to the school this morning.”
“Where can I start? How can I explain it? Everything is topsy-turvy. The Tekeyan School has no doors or windows. There are no offices, no computer room, no kitchen, no music room, no laboratory. Everything is ruins, the library, the hall, the sound system.” The iron gates of the school were also destroyed.