Saint Martin's Cloak

"Something always lingers - the news, the dark hours unfolding back home. You smile, you function, you blend into a new normal, yet you are never fully at rest" - Imane Assaf

We continue to stand with our friends in Lebanon and to share their stories. In our latest Voices from the Ground installment, we relay messages from Imane Assaf of Ahla Fawda, shared with us just before the recent May 5th strikes on Beirut, in which she ponders the fragility of the ceasefire as the risk of violence continues to hold its grip on everyday life.

To support Ahla Fawda's grassroots humanitarian aid efforts in Lebanon, click here or visit -

https://gogetfunding.com/ahla-fawdas-lebanon-war-relief-mission-2026/

To reach out to Ahla Fawda directly, click here or visit -

https://ahlafawda.org/

To reach out to the Saint Martin's Cloak Podcast, follow and DM us on Instagram @saintmartinscloak_pod or email us at [email protected]

What is life truly like under Russian occupation?

In this episode, we sat down with Elina Beketova, a former Ukrainian journalist and current research fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis, or CEPA. We hear from Elina as she recounts her work reporting on the annexation of Crimea, the challenges of sharing the stories from occupied territories, and her own experiences of the start of the full-scale Russian invasion.

We encourage you to follow Elina on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elina-beketova 

Check out her “Behind the Lines” tracker and analyses here: https://cepa.org/programs/democratic-resilience/behind-the-lines/

Donate to Ukrainian efforts here:

Razom - https://www.razomforukraine.org/

United Help Ukraine - https://unitedhelpukraine.org/

Novi - https://www.novi.ngo/

Wow Vdoma - https://www.instagram.com/vdoma_wow/

Be sure to check out our previous episode with Ukrainian Patriot to learn more about relief works on the ground with additional donation resources.

Have a question or suggestion for a topic/participant? Drop us an email at [email protected] or check out our instagram @saintmartinscloak_pod

Stay strong, stay safe, and stay brave,

Andrew and Miloš

"Behind every headline are families." - Imane Assaf

We continue to stand with our friends in Lebanon and to share their stories. In our latest Voices from the Ground installment, we relay messages from Imane Assaf of Ahla Fawda after the Israeli attacks of April 8 in Lebanon, as well as the reaction of herself and those around her to the news of a ceasefire declaration and the uncertainty that brings.

To support Ahla Fawda’s grassroots humanitarian aid efforts in Lebanon, click here or visit - 

https://gogetfunding.com/ahla-fawdas-lebanon-war-relief-mission-2026/

To reach out to Ahla Fawda directly, click here or visit -  

https://ahlafawda.org/

To reach out to the Saint Martin’s Cloak Podcast, follow and DM us on Instagram @saintmartinscloak_pod or email us at [email protected]

What challenges do the visually impaired face during a time of war? In today’s episode, we’re speaking with Marie-Gabrielle Corm, a sociologist and the co-founder and executive director of EQUAL, a Franciscan NGO in Lebanon. We hear from Marie-Gabrielle about EQUAL’s critical work with Lebanon’s visually impaired population, the extra challenges that visually impaired people face when they are displaced in an active war zone, along with EQUAL’s work with migrants, women’s rights, child protection and much more. This is a truly unique conversation about a team with a vital mission in humanitarian aid. We encourage you to reach out to EQUAL directly to learn more about their mission and how you can help. If you know anyone involved with support to visually impaired communities, we encourage you to share this episode with them and help spread the word about EQUAL's mission.

To reach out to EQUAL directly, email them at - [email protected]

To visit the EQUAL website, click here or visit - 

https://equalngo.org/

To follow EQUAL on Facebook, click here or visit - 

https://www.facebook.com/equal.ngo.lb/

To follow EQUAL on Instagram, click here or visit - 

@equal.ngo 

You can reach out to us at the Saint Martin's Cloak podcast at [email protected] or on Instagram @saintmartinscloak_pod

We stand with Ukraine. In today’s episode we’re kicking off our Ukraine coverage by speaking with Kaitlyn Kruk, a ground crew and board member of the NGO Ukrainian Patriot, and Denis Polishchuk, a member of the Ukrainian armed forces. We hear from Kaitlyn and Dennis about the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, Ukrainian dance and culture, conditions in Ukraine this past winter, how aid on the ground actually works, the importance of supporting the Ukrainian army, why smaller, agile groups like Ukrainian Patriot are uniquely effective, and much more.

To support the critical work of Ukrainian Patriot, click here or visit –

https://ukrainianpatriot.org/

To follow Ukrainian Patriot on Instagram, click here or visit –

@ukrpatriotorg

Two more awesome groups helping Ukrainians at the grassroots level are –

Bake for Ukraine

@bake.for.ukraine

And –

Good Bread for Good People

@from_good_people

To follow Denis’s recommendations for accurate news on Ukraine check out –

Ground News

https://ground.news/

And -

The Silicon Curtain Podcast with Jonathan Fink

https://podcasts.apple.com/id/podcast/silicon-curtain/id1661722315

And -

The YouTube channel of Dr. Jason Jay Smart  

https://www.youtube.com/@JasonJaySmart

Here are two other sites that I personally follow –

The Kyiv Independent

https://kyivindependent.com/

And -

Euromaidan Press

https://euromaidanpress.com/

In this episode we provide an update on the humanitarian situation in Lebanon, we look behind the headlines with an update from our friend Imane Assaf from the Lebanese NGO Ahla Fawda, and explain why it’s so critical to share stories directly from Lebanon. 

To support Ahla Fawda’s grassroots humanitarian aid efforts in Lebanon, click here or visit - 

https://gogetfunding.com/ahla-fawdas-lebanon-war-relief-mission-2026/

To reach out to Ahla Fawda directly, click here or visit - 

https://ahlafawda.org/

To hear the referenced statement from Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katza, click here or visit - 

https://x.com/israel_katz/status/2035668503554879862?s=61

To read about Israeli intentions to destroy Lebanese homes, click here or visit -
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-destroy-all-houses-near-lebanon-border-defence-minister-says-2026-03-31/

To read about Israeli efforts to force Shia civilians from southern Lebanon by contacting and threatening individual Christian and Druze leaders, click here or visit -
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/01/world/middleeast/lebanon-shiite-israel-evacuation.html

To hear the referenced statement from IDF Spokesman Major Doron Speilman, click here or visit - 

https://x.com/LBC/status/2038210821923160198

To read about the referenced casualty numbers in Lebanon, click here or visit -

https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2026/4/6/israeli-airstrikes-devastate-lebanese-villages-and-displace-millions

To reach out to the Saint Martin’s Cloak Podcast, follow and DM us on Instagram @saintmartinscloak_pod or email us at [email protected] 

In this episode we interview Philippe Nassif, the Chief Operations Officer of the American Task Force on Lebanon (ATFL). We talk to Philippe about the humanitarian situation in Lebanon, how to frame discussions of the war in ways that center the Lebanese people, the impact of the war on the people of southern Lebanon, what a responsible U.S. foreign policy towards Lebanon looks like, misunderstandings and misrepresentations of Lebanon in American media, the strength of the Lebanese diaspora in America, the ATFL mission and NextGen leadership program, and much more. 

To visit the ATFL website and reach out to them directly, click here or visit -
https://atfl.org/

To learn more about the ATFL’s NextGen leadership program, click here or visit - 

https://atfl.org/nextgen/

To follow the ATFL on X, click here or visit - 

https://x.com/ATFLebanon

To follow the ATFL on Instagram, click here or visit - 

https://www.instagram.com/americantaskforceonlebanon/

To support Ahla Fawda’s grassroots humanitarian aid efforts in Lebanon, click here or visit - 

https://gogetfunding.com/ahla-fawdas-lebanon-war-relief-mission-2026/

To reach out to Ahla Fawda directly, click here or visit - 

https://ahlafawda.org/

To reach out to the Saint Martin’s Cloak Podcast, follow and DM us on Instagram @saintmartinscloak_pod or email us at [email protected] 

In today's episode we focus on names from Lebanon, and share their stories. These are the human stories behind the headlines, with the latest from Imane Assaf, co-founder and director of the Lebanese grassroots NGO - Ahla Fawda, who we are proud to stand with.



To support the humanitarian aid operations of Ahla Fawda directly, click here or go here -

gogetfunding.com/ahla-fawdas-leba…ef-mission-2026/

To reach Ahla Fawda directly on their website, click here go here -

ahlafawda.org/

To reach Ahla Fawda on their Instagram page, click here go here -

www.instagram.com/ahlafawda/

Reach out to the Saint Martin's Cloak podcast on Instagram @saintmartinscloak_pod or email us at - [email protected]

This episode is dedicated to women working in humanitarian aid, especially those in Lebanon. Today, for International Women's Day, we bring you an update on the ground from Imane Assaf as she and her team at Ahla Fawda continue to provide emergency humanitarian aid in the face of wartime conditions. Thank you to Yumna Mustafa Miller for contributing to this episode.

To support the humanitarian aid operations of Ahla Fawda directly, click here.

To read "Ramadan persists in Lebanon at war" written by Katharine Sorensen and published in The Beiruter on March 9, 2026, click here.

To reach Ahla Fawda directly on their website, click here.

To reach Ahla Fawda on their Instagram page, click here.

To reach out to the Saint Martin's Cloak podcast on Instagram click here or email us at - [email protected]

In this episode, we provide updates on the humanitarian situation in Lebanon, and relay written messages directly from our friend Imane Assaf, as she and her team at the NGO Ahla Fawda lead humanitarian efforts on the ground. As always, links to support these efforts are available in this description.

Please consider sharing this episode to help us get the word out about the situation in Lebanon to the rest of the world.

To support grass roots humanitarian aid to displaced families in Lebanon, click here.

To reach Ahla Fawda directly, click here.

To reach the Ahla Fawda instagram page, click here.

To read more about the humanitarian situation in Lebanon, read these reports from the UN Refugee Agency, the IRC, UNICEF, and Save the Children.

If you have any suggestions about topics to cover, or people to talk to, please reach out to us on Instagram or at [email protected]