Shweir

Announcing New Facebook group to link Shweirieh in UAE
"أبناء الشوير في الامارات العربية المتحدة".
Click here to go to Group invitation

Feb 4, 2010 From Samar: we are having a snow storm, and in the
picture you can see the almond blossom covered by snow

Matching Fund Challenge
Dr. Karim Nasr who loves Shweir and has not set foot in Shweir for many years has pledged to match any contribution made to this effort. Contributors in USA can make their contributions to Shweir Foundation. This will give us the opportunity to recognize some very special people of the Shweir.com family as well as bring the spirit of Christmas to as many Shweiry families in need via the Shweir Societies and take care of administrative and overhead costs and make your checks payable to Shweir Foundation and mail to: P.O. Box. 131595, Houston, TX 77219 To view fund raiser on the BB Click here: http://www.shweir.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5052#5052

Top World Banker Riad Salamé on a Brief USA Visit to Silicon Valley
and deliver Keynote Address at Lebanese American Association 20th Anniversary Banquet
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Top-World-Banker-Riad-Salame-pz-2406791417.html?x=0&.v=1
view Photo album and see how many you recognize from Shweir.

Check out Shweir Storm on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hMAnrEuxrM
Courtesy of Samih B. Do you know how they got Shweir Name? Great Song.

Shweir Archive“ “ Shweir Archive is the introduction to Shweir Museum
Our Village has a beautiful and rich heritage, but it has not any documentation,
Therefore, Issam Sawaya decided to launch this archive to work together to preserve the past, the present for our children and for the future. Issam Sawaya is asking for assistance, anyone who has any picture, documents, films...

On the 6th of September 2009, Dhour Square was on fire!!
A thrilling battle took place between Dhour Shweir and Kaa el Reem, which was hosted by OTV Station. Members from each village competed in different games which test not only their body strength but also their intelligence...

Announcing a New Shweir Group on FaceBook: Shweir Evergreen
Let us support this new group ' Shweir Evergreen'. It relates to Shweir's environment and their first event is a cleaning campaign on September 19,2009 @7:30am.
They will have breakfast and meet with Difa3 Madani and then start a campaign all over Dhour Shweir.
Bring your friends and be part of the solution.
for more info, click on symbol or: Shweir Evergreen

“THE RESCUE AND SOCIAL ASSOCIATION-SHWEIR” HAS PUBLISHED THE LIST OF DONATIONS COLLECTED TO BUILD THE “MEDICAL AND SOCIAL CENTER-BEYTNA” FOR THE YEARS: MAY 3, 2002-AUG. 16, 2009 VIEW AT:
http://www.shweir-rssa.com/servicesndpackages.html

Our Shweir Future in Action (SFA) Team
Many are officers in Shweir.com Group on FaceBook above visit us on FaceBook
to view their profiles and get more updates & be more pro-active about issues affecting Shweir's future.

W/Shweir.com co-founder Anwar Kenicer (top L) & Team founder Samar Kiame, (seated R). Missing: Rabih Baaklini

From: Anwar Kenicer
Sent: Saturday, July 11, 2009 3:20 PM
To: Mayor Naiim Sawaya
Subject: FW: Shweir Master Plan - Cascading Lakes = Brighter Future

... I need your help on something that is near and dear to our hearts. ... I very much would like to replace the information on home page about the industrial problems and replace them with positive solutions that are of great benefit to Shweir. This still relates to the Master Plan that we have been communicating about for over 2 years. ...

Reflecting back on many discussions over the years by several people who love Shweir and the work I did for 15 years while back in California, I sincerely believe that there is great potential for Shweir on many fronts. Primarily the building of successive lakes and the positive impact on Shweir.

This adds beauty, great views, reclaim water for irrigation, fight fires, invites a lot more tourists, establish park for picnics, fishing, promotes restaurants, hotels, shops, more sustainable jobs year round for Shweiries, health clubs and above all, that also enhances the value of the land overlooking these lakes or have a view or are in proximity of these lakes.

This will put Shweir on top of the list nationally and world wide and reclaim its past glory as Arouse al Masayef. Also, Doing this right, can make the land value appreciate or increase by 1000% to 2000%. Having learned so much about transformation of land in the process, I realize that building successive lakes is so achievable because Shweir is very similar topographically and better suited for successive lakes. Below are pixs of the project I worked on for over dozen years.

All these 20+ lakes you see were built by one man (family member)... I took the first picture below from a private plane.
All the rest of these pictures I took from different ground elevations.

For higher resolution pictures, go to bottom of this web page and click on the respective thumbnails: www.shweir.com/avg.htm

You will be amazed what this can do for Shweir’s future generations, your kids and grandkids and your legacy as a mayor

Of course, before anything happens, we need your Support / Green Light and requested data in order study and assess best feasibility for water conservation and wastewater treatment facility to consider doing 1, 2 or 3 cascading lakes.

In the meantime, I will continue to communicate with those resourceful persons and orgs that can be of great help for such vital and worthwhile projects that are of critical importance for Shweir’s transformation and future success. I will be glad to update you on my findings. In the meantime, please give this a priority so that we can under your leadership and guidance move forward. ...

From: Matar, George
Sent: Wednesday, July 15, 2009 3:47 PM
Subject: RE: Shweir Master Plan - Cascading Lakes = Brighter Future

I have read Anwar’s letter to you, we have been anxiously following the Area Master Plan for the past year with so much interest on how it will turn out to be. Anwar sent you some pictures of a project he worked on and an alternate plan. I believe it is more powerful if we send you a picture how it will apply to Shweir (see picture below). This plan has tremendous potential

Naim as you know the world is heading towards a climate change as we are seeing it every day where the temperatures are steadily going up, we are also seeing shortages in fuel which is pushing people to drive less and less or are looking very hard to find jobs closer to their homes. I know I am starting my message on negative issues but believe me, if we do not put this in front of us as we discuss our Area’s Master Plan we will, in the long run regret it. Shweir should be in a position to to take advantage and be in the best position to address all these shortcomings, and yes it can.

It has been a long long time since Shweir did something unprecedented and it is due time we do something that we can be very proud of for generations to come. Nothing pleases me more than to see you take that initiative. In our limited capacity we want to help as much as we can, because, like you, we love our Shweir and we want it to be unequivocally the best. As Such we are proposing for your consideration this conceptual Master plan that we humbly superimposed it on a satellite picture of our beloved area. This is an ambitious “Long Range” plan that will transform solve so many issues and concerns for centuries to come (See discussion below the picture).

The water
I took the liberty and checked the elevations along Nahr Bou Dawood path and found out that it is perfect to erect 60-80 ft dam at strategic locations (the lakes on the map can be as drawn or located in other areas Where land permits it. The two big lakes when filled will provide over 500 million Gallons of water. This might sound overwhelming but to give you an idea how much that is here’s an estimate how much that is. Because of the shape of our area (7 hills) one inch of rain is about 7 million gallons of water (Think how much the snow will be). I do not know the annual rain fall but some one on the council should know that. I figure it will take us a couple of years to fill both Lakes.

The plan is simple… Currently this water flows to the sea, Build dams and harness it in the winter. Once the lakes are full, this water, after it replenish our lakes, will make its way back to the sea in future years

This is good water that we can treat and use as drinking water, Irregation, Fire fighting, etc..in a strong strong way Shweir will control its water needs

The surrounding Land
The land where I have my house was estimated at $8,000 before the subdivision was build. They added a detention pond (small lake) the price of the same piece of land is now $90,000 (yes I have to pay taxes on that land). I would estimate the same will happen in Shweir and land it will be selling like hot cakes

The View
These will be one of the largest lakes in Lebanon; they will transform our area to a world class resort. The lakes will temper the climate making Shweir warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer, which is perfect for resort areas. We prefer investors from Shweir to take advantage of this and build hotels, vacation homes, restaurants, gift shops entertainment establishment, health clubs etc.. Investors from outside will also be drooling to join in.
Who wouldn’t want to live year round in Shweir

The Economy
It does not take a business wizard to tell you that if all of the above is done, jobs will be plentiful and all those that want to work will have the opportunity. These are jobs that are not limited to the summer months only, I expect the winter will be quite busy too.

Existing Businesses
These businesses will flourish and expand to cater for the year round residents… New ones will pop up to

The Environment
Just look at the picture, Healthier plants, healthier air, healthier living…. And we can achieve all this within the next 10 years or so I am so sure that you and other members of the council will have so many questions, we do too, but if this plan looks attractive enough to open a dialogue then by God lets do that.

We are Shweir and we are the Trend Makers, If the will is there Nothing is impossible.

The above 2 emails are draft recommendations on one segment of the overall Master Plan that is sadly lacking and is in urgent need to be studied and put into action. Granted that better demographics, limitation of resources or logistics may alter these conceptual designs. We hope this will serve as a visualization of what is possible, consider options and find creative ways where possible to transform some of these concepts or dreams into reality.

We support the Municipality to adopt a policy and their diligent efforts to monitor, control and/or close harmful existing heavy industries and disallow future proposed heavy industry.

We need to focus and attract LIGHT rather than HEAVY Industry:
With light industry like WINE Industry, Hotels, Restaurant, Recreation, Health Centers, Resort and Hospitality industry, cottage industries (home grown businesses), these are ideal for Shweir, then that is a Welcome breath of fresh air. Yes, with Shweiry engineering, water pumps, we can transform Nahr Abu Dawoude valley into a beautiful area with running water and cascading water falls that would rival al Bardowney. Add to it Old Souk, Old Tahouneh, Old bridge, to highlight our history and heritage, maintain and bring them to their old glory, add walkways, trails, destination resort, health club... and you will have heaven on earth where people from around the world would want to come visit and stay. That is the kind of industry Shweir desperately needs.

Shweir residents and land owners would benefit far greater by taking the light industry described above that would get overwhelming support than the heavy industry that will be devastating to the town, its values and future. Those who are in the waste and wastewater industry have a saying that, pardon the expression, goes like this: "Your waste is our Gold". And rather than dump our raw wastewater at the gateway to our town and put up with its negative impact, we should take every step necessary not only to fix that problem but to treat and reclaim that water that will help greatly especially in the summer time for our lakes and irrigation and take the processed solid waste and sell it as fertilizer. The positive future economic impact to the town will be tremendous.

Let us take a proactive approach, set excellent examples of positive Change and Forward Thinking to make the best of our resources to conduct studies as per recommendations of experts from around the world, share their findings with the public, to reduce and hopefully eliminate as much of the heavy industry and to focus on light industry described above and take steps that would protect the environment, beautify and enhance future success of our treasured town.

The better prepared we are, the greater our chances are to get international support to help fix our Infrastructure even though such assistance is not a sure thing. We also need to be resourceful and consider alternatives to meet such challenges if such assistance were not available. We need to capitalize on and wisely manage our valuable resources.

To what extent Shweiry Emigrants love Shweir? Here are two examples from Brazil: << Look at what Jorge Choueire, originally of Bou Zaid family, painted on his car and >> A rock from Shweir is treasured in a beautiful case at the home of Sami and Beatriz Tabsharani in Sao Paulo, Brazil
More updates on Bou Zeid and Merege Chueire family ReUnion in Tomazina, Brazil

Song/Poem written by Rida Hammam ... > > >
the Story of our Town's Road - Issat Tareek Dayaatna -
OK, Nawbeh, (Shweir Music Band)... how about transforming this into a song in memory of Mrs. Hammam?

To see a complete list of recent updates, click on this Shweir picture below V V V.

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Shweir Community Center (SCC) & Library - phone 04-390-295
Open Daily except Sunday 9:30 to 12:30 noon and 4:00 - 7:00 p.m.