Fund-raising for Burnt ‘Al-Saeh Library’ Expands to Cities in US, Crowd-funding Campaign

The Jan. 3 arson attack on the historic al-Saeh Library bookshop in Lebanon’s northern city of Tripoli — which destroyed thousands or perhaps tens of thousands of books and manuscripts — has galvanized support in Lebanon and worldwide:

A crowd-funding campaign on Zoomaal aims to raise USD $35,000 in order to repair the library, buy back rare books, and install security equipment. Chief Zoomaalian Officer Abdallah Absi said that the site aims to “support Arab creativity and make the Arab world a hub for innovation. Promoting education and supporting Arts & culture are some of the areas we proudly cover, hence our support for the Al-Saeh library.”

Maya Chami, with Zoomaal business development, said that all funds are going directly to the Greek Orthodox priest Father Ibrahim Srouj, the proprietor of al-Saeh.

Chami said that most donations after the arson were book donations. “There were some politicians who offered financial support to rebuild it, but the over-all decision was that Father Sarrouj did not want the restoration to be linked to anything political or religious…. As such, the only way to get the funding, without political/religious affiliations, was through crowd funding.”