Lebanese singer. Julia Butros recently held conference to lay out the results of her humane project “Ahiba’i” (My Beloved ones) at the Lebanese communication union. A number of well-known sponsors were present like: Salim El Huss, Al Sheikh Mikha’el Al Thaher and Talal Salman the president of the ‘Safir’ newspaper.
Julia talked about this project at the end of last year after the end of the July War of 2006 ‘Israel’s war on Lebanon’. Julia also made a new song for the cause named “Ahiba’i”, which was taken from a letter by the leader of Hizballah Hasan Nasr Allah. The wording was fixed by Ghasan Matar and composed by Ziad Butros.
According to the Qatari daily Al Raya, the song was aimed to the brave men of the Lebanese South who stood high defending their country against the Israeli army. In her speech Julia said, “when I made the news of the humane project public last year, I was hoping to gather one million dollars, yet today I can tell you very proudly the result of the project which was not expected. We were able to gather instead 3 million dollars.”
The result of the project shows how everyone in Lebanon and in the Arab world were emotionally pulled into giving a helping hand for those who stood against the enemy till the Israeli army was defeated.
In her speech Julia thanked a number of people who had gave a helping hand like: the Sheikh of Qatar Hamad Bin Khalefa Al Thani and the Prime Minster of Dubai Al Sheikh Muhammad Bin Rashed Al Maktoom for helping out during the war and in rebuilding Lebanon.
Julia also made the news of including the families of martyrs to the project “Ahiba’i” which was aimed in the beginning to the martyrs only. The money that was gathered for “Ahiba’i” came from selling her CD’s and money from her concerts that she held in Lebanon, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Syria. The other money came from people who put a direct deposit in an account made out for the specific project.
Julia also added that there is a list of people who have lost their lives whether they are in the Lebanese army or just plain citizen, their families will get part of the money which was gathered for them. The money will be all passed out before August 15 of 2007.
Julia thanked everyone who gave a helping hand whether from inside Lebanon or from the Arab countries.
