Merry Christmas!

"But the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High...his kingdom will never end." - Luke 1:30-33

During the Christmas season, our thoughts turn to the source of joy and hope born in a humble manger on a holy night more than 2,000 years ago. Each year, Christians everywhere celebrate this single life that changed the world and continues to change hearts today. The simple and inspiring story of the birth of Jesus fills our souls with appreciation for the many blessings in our lives and promises that God's purpose is justice and His plan is peace.

At this special time of year, we give thanks for Christ's message of love and mercy, and we are reminded of our responsibility to serve and love others. Our people are blessed, fine citizens who reach out with a compassionate hand to help each other. We also remember our ex-patriots in distant lands, all over the world. Many of those who would have loved to spend Christmas with their families in Lebanon. We ask God to watch over them, and may they someday return to their beloved hometown, Mazraat el Toufah.

Christmas is a time to rejoice and remember the birth of Jesus Christ. We pray that your Christmas will be blessed with families and friends, and we wish you a day of joy!

Merry Christmas!

Issam Philippe.

Mazraat el Toufah Municipality honors Colonel Joseph Ramia

To the Mazraat el Toufah community, the Ramia family, and friends and members of our Armed Forces. We come together filled with honor and respect for our beloved Martyr, Colonel Joseph Ramia that we have lost; with gratitude for the life that he led; and with a determination to honor and remember him.

For the families who had lost loved ones, no words can fill the void that's been left. We all knew Colonel Ramia as a great man and a soldier. His family knew him as a son, a brother, a great father, and a beloved husband.

Colonel Joseph Ramia endures through the life of our nation. His memory will be honored in the place he lived and by the people he touched. His life's work is our security, and the freedom that we all too often take for granted. Every evening that the sun sets on our tranquil town; every dawn that a flag is unfurled; every moment that a Lebanese enjoys life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- that is the legacy of our Martyrs.

Neither this country, nor the values we live for, could exist without men and women of our Armed Forces. That is why we must pay tribute to their lives.

Colonel Joseph Ramia was a very successful student achieving his Bachelor’s degree in mathematics. He joined the Military Academy of the Lebanese Armed Forces as an Artillery Officer Cadet. He trained in many foreign countries as in The United States and Belgium and received high praise and marks from his commanding officers.

Colonel Ramia was a brilliant officer and a man of high values and ethics. At the time of President René Moawad's election, Colonel Ramia was selected to be the Aide-De-Camp of the President. Colonel Joseph Ramia was very happy and honored.

Seventeen days later in Beirut, the Colonel age 40, was assassinated with the President on Lebanon's Independence Day, 22 November 1989. The Colonel survived by his wife and four sons.

Colonel Joseph Ramia was the son of our beloved town and the son of our Lebanese military. His life was a message of honor, sacrifice and loyalty. Strength, dignity, and decency for those who he served, and that's how he will be remembered.

We are a nation that lives the truth within our military, and see it in the varied backgrounds of those we laid to rest years ago. We defend that truth and we know that Lebanon will always be found on the side of honor, sacrifice and loyalty.

Today is Colonel Joseph Ramia Memorial Day. It's a chance to pause and to pay tribute, for the young to learn the struggles that preceded them; for families to honor the service of parents and grandparents; for citizens to reflect upon the sacrifices that have been made in pursuit of a more perfect nation.

For history is filled with heroes. You may remember the stories of a grandfather who marched across a battle field; an uncle who fought for freedom; a father who served alongside the President. Here, in Mazraat el Toufah today, we pay tribute to a man who was not able to escape the loyalty and is being honored for his ultimate sacrifice.

Long after he was laid to rest -- when the war had finished, on that Sunday of November 2009 the Lebanese state, armed forces, church, home village, together with the widow and family of President René Moawad, paid their respects to an officer who died serving his country, in the presence of the officer's widow, Mrs. Hind Tabchoury Ramia.

At the Colonel's home village of Mazraat el Toufah, Mass was said at Mar Doumit Church, with Bishop Emeritus of Cairo Bishop Youssef Dergham representing Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, officiating at the Mass. Afterwards a statue in memory of Colonel Ramia was unveiled.

The Mass and unveiling was under the auspices of General Jean Kahwaji, Commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces, represented by General Abdel el Hamid Darwish who spoke as did the President's son Michel René Moawad as well as the Municipality President of Mazraat el Toufah Joseph Saleh.

Among those also attending were ex-parliament members, ex-Lebanese Commander General Ibrahim Tannous, members of Lebanon's security and intelligence services, civil defense, former colleagues, and civic dignitaries.

The Municipality of Mazraat el Toufah sends a special thank you to:

Bishop Youssef Dergham representing Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir
General Jean Kahwaji, Commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces
General Abdel el Hamid Darwish
Security and Intelligence services
Lebanese Civil Defense
The late President’s Widow Nayla Moawad
The late President’s son Michel René Moawad
Ex-Lebanese Commander General Ibrahim Tannous
Former colleagues, Dignitaries and all attendee’s that honored us with their presence
Naif Alwan, for his great artistic work in sculpturing the statue

Thank you to the Mazraat el Toufah community, to each and everyone that helped and made this day possible.


Below is the speech that was delivered by the Municipality President of Mazraat el Toufah Joseph Saleh.

Italy conference and updates

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The Steering Committee of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Directorate General for Development Cooperation) is granting Lebanon millions of Euros each year, for numerous projects throughout the country.

The projects include improvement of water supply networks, the rehabilitation of Hospitals, and the conservation of ancient sites, the funding of researches for environmental monitoring and sustainable development of the sea, the development of infrastructure in multiple villages of Mount Lebanon regions. Along with a big contribution to the Lebanese Government for the recovery and reconstruction of conflict-affected areas of North Lebanon that was announced by Italy at the Vienna Conference of June 2008.

Mazraat Al Toufah Municipality President, Attorney Joseph Saleh attended the April 6, 2009 conference in Italy, where he represented the President of the municipality league of the Zgharta district, General Joseph Maarawi.

The conference lasted five days; it mainly focused on the development and growth of various cities and municipalities in Lebanon.




Among the attendee at the conference; the Representative of the Foreign Ministry of Italy, the Representative of Tuscany, the Lebanese council in Milan, Mr. Hussain Najem . Massimo Tuskey an Italian Minister, the league representative of the Municipalities of Al Chouf area, Baalbak and Al Hirmil along with the Representatives of the Municipalities of Milan and Florence.

We hope this conference will be fruitful and positive for our town the district and the country as a whole.

Locally, the municipality continues its constructive mission around the town and recently it restarted its work on the town square projects putting the final touches on the first phase.

The municipality invites all of its expatriates overseas to take a look at the pictures showing the progress and hope for anyone that might have a suggestion or questions to feel free to contact Mr. Joseph Saleh personally.

As you all know the projects are many and the funds are limited, and for this reason the Municipality would like to let everyone know that we are open for donations via Western Union directly under the president’s name. Feel free to contact him at anytime.

Mazraat Al Toufaah Municipality President, Attorney Joseph Saleh
Email: salehj@hotmail.com
Cell: 03-965503
Home: 06-664965
Office: 06-424965


Thank you.

Taking care of the environment.

The Municipality of Mazraat Al Toufah would like to wish everyone a Happy Easter! Jesus Has Risen! Wishing all of you good health and happiness.

The Municipality continues to work on preserving its beautiful pine forest that surrounds the town. It had asked the Lebanese Army command to provide them with a helicopter to use in spraying the forest with lethal mixes of insecticides in order to minimize the manifestation of the Pine Processionary Caterpillars (Doudat Al Sandal) that has remarkably increased in the last few years.

On April 21st the helicopter that the Lebanese Military provided, came and sprayed the forest as you can see in the video below. The Agriculture Ministry provided and mixed the insecticides chemicals.

The Pine Processionary Caterpillar (Thaumetopoea pityocampa) is known as ‘Doudat Al Sandal’ in Arabic. During late winter through early spring they will be coming out of the trees and forming eye-catching snakelike lines as they navigate the ground searching for soft soil to burrow into. They will not be far from a pine tree, but that does not mean that you will only see them in large pine woods. They are just as likely to be found in urbanizations and road side plantings wherever pine trees are present.

There are several stages within their lifecycle but they are only dangerous to people during the caterpillar phase. In the adult phase they are a simple and unremarkable, short lived moth which emerges in the summer and flies at night. The male moth is attracted to the female moth by pheromones that she emits. They will mate and a single female can then lay up to 300 tiny eggs which she attaches in a mass to a pine needle. Around one month later these eggs hatch into small caterpillars.

These social caterpillars living in family communities eat pine needles by night and sleep in silk nests by day. They build these white silky nests on the tip of a pine branch as white cotton or ‘candy floss’ like structures and a single pine tree may have many. If there are few or more in the top of a tree they can easily strip the leaves with their nightly foraging, possibly clearing all greenery off some branches and in many cases damaging the tree badly. By feeding under the cover of darkness they avoid attack by birds and predatory wasps. At nightfall the caterpillars leave their communal nest in search of food. There is no single entrance hole, they simply push through the silk layers and once onto a branch they will leave a scent trail to help themselves find their way back before the morning light arrives.

From January to April the caterpillars leaves the nest in preparation for the next part of their lifecycle. And it is this point when most people come into contact with them, sometimes with very painful consequences. The colony follows a leader, nose to tail, in a long procession. These processions can vary in length; depending on how many have survived and whether they have been disturbed. 60 or so caterpillars each about 4cm long in a chain can be an impressive sight and if seen along a road may be mistaken for a snake. They may travel a distance of 30 or so meters to find soft soil to burrow into.

Once underground they change into pupae and during this part of their lives they look nothing like a caterpillar at all. Now they are covered in a tubular brown protective casing and they will lay dormant until the summer months. They have stored nutrients in their bodies on which they will survive the pupal stage of development. If the weather conditions are not favorable, they may remain underground until the following year. This is why some years seem to have many more visible nests than others; it may literally be because two years of moths (this years and last years) emerged at the same time.

And so on to the dangers involved, the best advice is to avoid these innocent looking creatures at all costs. The caterpillars are covered in tiny barbed hairs which are their defense mechanism. These hairs are often being shed and so can be airborne around infested pine trees, on the branches where they have traveled and also left in the line of the migrating procession.

When humans come into contact with these hairs, they can cause reactions ranging from mild inflammation and irritation to severe anaphylactic shock. The worst problems occur if you make contact with the caterpillar directly and ingest the hairs, either by picking it up, stepping on it or moving them in some manner. Once on your skin a rash soon forms which can be incredibly itchy. Medical advice should be sought if you are unfortunate enough to experience this. The rash can be painful, very itchy and lasts for as much as three weeks.

These defoliating pests, which can attack all types of pine trees, are found in warmer parts of Southern Europe, North Africa and across to the Near East. Their numbers have increased partly due to large plantations of pine trees in the Mediterranean areas. This facilitates their ability to multiply successfully. Milder winters, as have been occurring recently, are allowing these insects to expand into new areas, both into more northern latitudes and higher elevations.

A form of control that is regularly used in Lebanon is the random aerial spraying of pine forests with lethal mixes of insecticides as a fixative to stick the liquid to the pine needles, or cut down the nests and burn them.

Mazraat Al Toufah Municipality would like to send a special thanks to our Lebanese Army Forces, to the Agriculture Ministry and to everyone that helped in making this project possible. The Municipality is devoted in keeping its people and the environment healthy, help us in doing so.

Thanks.

Al Toufaha Festival - Marwam Khoury

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On August 2, 2008 the Municipality of Mazraat Al Toufah had its first festival, “Al Toufaha Festival”. It featured Marwan Khoury, the singer, writer, composer and music arranger. He is considered one of the most respected Lebanese / Arab artists. His successful live performances at the prestigious Opera House of Egypt and Carthage Festival of Tunisia are proof of his great witness.

On the occasion, the Municipality President Mr. Joseph Saleh read a welcoming speech. Here are some of its outline.

“To our visitors and by the name of everyone in Mazraat Al Toufah, I welcome you with a warm greeting. Our town center is small in size, but it fits a great deal of endearing people.”

“This is our first Al Toufaha Festival! We are very pleased for having it and we will continue to have it every summer.”

“Our sky will stay lit all night with beautiful songs that will enter our hearts without notice.”

“Our country Lebanon is facing a lot of issues, problems bigger than its size. Let us gather tonight and take a step forward, overlook all obstacles and make the best out of this Lovely night.”

“Let this gathering be full of love and hope for a better tomorrow.”

“The words will stop now as the night falls in love with the sky, the trees with the fresh air, as we listen to the music of love, the music of our beloved brother, Marwan Khoury.”

“Let the melody of love echo off the Mountain of Saint Georges to Al Shreef and go around the Al Zirri and Ein Dawood to the Nhair and Al Kahf.”

It was a beautiful night; Marwan Khoury did an incredible job. Everyone danced, sang and fell in love. It was a great time. We Hope you will celebrate Al Toufaha Festival with us next year.

Thank you.


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Projects Throughout The Mazraat.

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Mazraat Al Toufah Municipality would like to send you warm wishes and love. Wishing you all a blessed season of Lent. May god accept your offerings and your prayers.

As you all know, the Municipality is working diligently on multiple projects throughout the village. From renovating the town square (Seha), to building a number of the side roads and walls, including the wall at the main entrance of Mazraat. Two new roads were opened as well, one of which will take you near by Mereii Francis’ house to the Goura area by Ouzit. The second one will take you near by Saint Moura Church to the Kahf area.

In the video below, you will see some of the projects are complete and some are still under construction. The Municipality has completed the first phase of the Seha project. God willing, we will be able to raise enough money to start the second phase as soon as possible.

We would like to thank everyone for their help and effort, especially the people that are living in the Mazraat for their patience, to make these projects a reality and to make this dream come true for all of us.

Thank you and May god bless you.

Youth Magazine Article

Mazraat Al Toufah is a village in the District of Zgharta, famous for its rare forests. The president of its Municipality, Joseph Saleh, is inviting you to visit and enjoy yourself in its nature and beauty.

Mazraat Al Toufah is one of the villages in the District of Zgharta, in the North Governorate of Lebanon. It is a beautiful mountainous village about 900 meters above sea level, (The Mediterranean Sea). Mazraat Al Toufah is located about 123 kilometers from the capital, Beirut, 37 kilometers from Tripoli and 29 kilometers from Zgharta.

Hundreds of years have passed and the name of our town is still the same. It was named after the apple trees that grew in it for the longest time. Today, the apple trees are minimal to what they were in the past as they started disappearing little by little. In the meantime the pine trees and the oak trees are rising in numbers; increasing the size of the magnificent green forest to make it one of the best in the world.

Mazraat Al Toufah is known for its beautiful weather and its forest that is one of a kind in the entire area of the Middle East. A number of tourists visit the Mazraat to practice the sport of running, walking and hiking, and doing all sorts of nature activities. The Municipality is currently working closely with a European Union group to organize these activities and make them a permanent tourist attraction.

The most known families in the town are: The Jreige family, the Karam family and the Chebat family. The largest one of them is the Chebat’s and from it, several other families branched out such as the Chediek, Saleh and Francis and others. The citizens of Mazraat Al Toufah are also known for their excellent stone designing and home building. In ten years, the town of Mazraat Al Toufah will celebrate its 500th anniversary.

The village does not have many attractions other than its forest, the Kahf area; which is recognized by the department of tourism. No hotels, no parks or night life. Most of the people have migrated to other countries. Others live in the village during the summer and winter seasons especially after the opening of the road between Sebeel and Mazraat Al Toufah. 60% of its people live in the village the whole year long, winter through summer. The rest live in coastal cities such as Majdlaya and the capital of Lebanon, Beirut. Its current population is approximately 2,000 people, of which 1,200 are registered voters.

The 7th of August is another reason people visit our town; the holiday of Saint Doumit, a day where a big festival lasts all night long with music, dancing and cooking a traditional meal (Hrissa) that takes all night too cook.
Mr. Joseph Saleh said, we used to have a public school and a private school, but unfortunately they were both closed due to financial problems, and because most parents sent their kids to other schools outside the village. Schools such as Sebaal, Karm Sada and Zagharta.

There are many things that the Mazraat and its people need; to build a school in the village for our kids, fix the sewer system for better health, etc. We have an open line of communication with all of our ex-patriots that help us with everything that we need. We are asking the people of Mazraat Al Toufah that are living inside and outside of Lebanon for their help, and we asking for the aid of anyone that would like to help us to succeed in bettering our town and its citizens.

For the last few years our municipality has been acknowledging our achieved students giving them rewards and incentives. The men of Mazraat Al Toufah are excellent stone designers and home builders. We are hoping to have different majors in studies for our people so that we will have more employees in different fields and hopefully in governmental positions.

Although we have a lot of political problems in Lebanon, Mazraat Al Toufah stays out of the scene and sticks together. Although, it is not a bad thing to have different political views and exercise your democratic right. We are hoping for good discussions between Mazraat Al Toufah and the European Union regarding the nature activities that al Mazraat is offering.

We are hoping to accomplish most of these projects during the time of our current president Michel Suleiman. He is a man of wisdom and takes care of historical areas and sites in Lebanon.
We are reaching out to the government through this magazine to look after us and help us. We need to really fix our sewer system, fix our roads with smooth asphalt before the winter comes and we also need side barriers for our roads to safe guard our people from dangerous accidents.

Finally, I am calling on all of the Lebanese citizens from Mazraat Al Toufah and their families to come visit their country and village fulfilling their duties. Enjoy the weather, beauty and the treasured nature. I hope that all Lebanese people live in peace and harmony.

Here is the article in Arabic.