When R. Hasbani first planned to leave her home due to the latest hostilities in Borj el Moulouk, a Christian-majority village in southern Lebanon near Qlayaa, it was Father Pierre al-Rahi who urged her to stay.
"At that moment, Father Pierre visited me, and he put his hands on my shoulders and he told me, 'Don't leave. You are safe, and you will stay safe because you have God,'" Hasbani told EWTN News by phone as shelling could be heard in the background. "I [can't] believe that he died."
As the conflict escalated, however, Hasbani fled with her two teenage children to her parents' home in a village farther away from the border on March 7.
Two days later, on March 9, al-Rahi was killed while rushing to the aid of a parishioner wounded in an earlier attack, according to Father Toufic Bou Merhi, a Franciscan of the Custody of the Holy Land, who spoke with Vatican media.
Hasbani serves as a coordinator for the Italian civil service organization AVSI's southern office in Lebanon. Founded in 1972, AVSI facilitates humanitarian aid projects in 41 countries, including Lebanon, where Hasbani is one of 60 staff members.
According to Hasbani, al-Rahi was "a partner with AVSI" who frequently collaborated with the organization to carry out its projects. "We were doing activities together," she said. "Every time you want to implement any activity we were asking him, he was providing sometimes a location to do our activity."
Hasbani said al-Rahi was always "doing his best to help the people," especially the elderly.
"He was buying their basic needs and bringing them to their houses," she said. "He would actually contact the pharmacies, telling them, 'Give the people all the medicines they want; don't hide any medicines. I will be the person to make sure everything will come to the village.'"
She said he would often go "house by house" to see how people were doing and gather young people together. She said he would encourage them "to always pray and keep on going" and would tell them: "Don't leave your village where you were born."
She recalled that following the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel, which forced their community center called Fadaii to close, the Maronite parish priest of Qlayaa encouraged them not to worry. "Fadaii is a safe place," he said.
The Fadaii center is a community hub built by AVSI that hosts offices as well as psycho-pedagogical services for children and families, literacy courses for women, and vocational training for farmers, according to AVSI's website.
AVSI released a statement following al-Rahi's death, describing his faith and courage as "contagious."
"Every time an AVSI aid truck reached his village, his message of thanks would arrive promptly. And when, on March 1, the war once again struck southern Lebanon with violence, he was still there, beside his people," the statement said. "We will miss his friendship, his simple and strong faith, and his embraces."
Describing the current situation faced by Christians in southern Lebanon, Hasbani said many families fled their homes during the first days of the war while others south of the Litani River have remained "but feel increasingly unsafe especially as areas facing the border have been targeted."
Although shops and fuel stations have remained open, Hasbani said movement in southern Lebanon now is very limited, with residents only venturing out to purchase essential goods as several Christian homes and main roads connecting villages to major cities have been targeted in recent days.
"However," she said, "it is uncertain how long these supplies will last if the situation continues."
For its part, AVSI has been working to provide humanitarian aid such as hygiene kits, food, and water bottles.
Following the first days of the war, Hasbani said schools ceased operations and were opened up as shelters for displaced families who were previously sleeping in their cars. "The world has to feel guilty towards those children because we stopped their future," she said. "I hope that everyone know about how much we are suffering."
"It's enough for me in this moment" to trust God, Hasbani said.
"I trust, and I have hope that as we sleep and wake up to a war, [someday] I will sleep and wake up and the war will end," she said. "I believe that."
