Last week, the Live Lebanon team visited the Ain Yaccoub project site in order to track progress on the construction works. The site, which is being transformed into basketball and volleyball courts for local youth, is located up in the mountainous North Lebanon region roughly an hour away from Tripoli. Despite the arduous terrain (the area where the courts are to be constructed basically constitutes a hillside), the project is moving along on schedule and tangible progress has been made.
The Live Lebanon team met with the local engineer overseeing the project to discuss the pace of the implementation efforts. They were also able to speak with a few construction workers on siteabout the various building stages that were going to take place. The courts will feature a large spectator area where people from the neighboring villages will be able to come and congregate, promoting social cohesion in the area.
At the time of the visit, the site had been partially excavated, and the workers had subsequently collected a huge pile of sand that the municipality intends to sell. Similarly, some of the pine trees that had to be removed will be sold for fuel to heat the local school in the wintertime.
As coincidence would have it, during the site visit the team also ran into one the farmers who had benefited from a previous Ain Yaccoub Live Lebanon project. That project had involved the extension of an irrigation canal for arable lands situated further up the hill. He was eager to comment on how the construction of these new courts will impact students in the area, and was hopeful that it might help motivate them to do better in school.
Live Lebanon is looking forward to the project's completion, and will continue to monitor its progress.
Funding for this project has made possible through the Live Lebanon Goodwill Ambassador for Western Europe, Ms. Bouran Bouery.