It had been more than three years since Ara Khatchadourian had seen the Lebanese coastline, the country where he spent his childhood years.
On Tuesday he stepped into Lebanon again – not at Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport but from the boat he had rowed nearly 4,000km from Marseille to the Lebanese capital in a charity fund-raising drive.
“I've not realised what I've done. Every time I do something like this, I need two months to realise what I've done,” the Lebanese-Armenian adventurer tells The National in his first interview since arriving in Beirut only a few hours before.
Mr Khatchadourian's Rowing for Peace quest began on May 27, in which he sought to contribute to the fight against poverty, wars around the world and discrimination against people with disabilities.
His lowest point was off the Italian coast when his boat broke and he had to pause for a couple of days.
He describes his effort as a humanitarian mission – but it is not his first. Previously he ran in 2018 from France to Armenia in a Running for Peace fund-raiser, covering the distance of 107 marathons in the process. He also climbed Mount Everest in 2016 in memory of all genocide committed in the 20th century including in Armenia, from where his ancestors came.
But Mr Khatchadourian, showing off his heavily calloused hands, says the rowing was the hardest and the conditions, waves and current in the Mediterranean Sea brutal. He talks of blisters and almost constant discomfort.
“You know happiness when you have passed this kind of challenge, pain and difficulty.”
Mr Khatchadourian, 58, left Lebanon aged 19 as the country was engulfed in its brutal 15-year civil war. He went to Marseille in southern France to join an uncle and worked as a jeweller.
“When I arrived in France, I didn't speak French, I had $100 in my pocket. I said I must work a lot, I worked 16 hours a day, seven days a week.”
But it wasn't until he was 40 that he began to become interested in sport and running, including the Beirut marathon.
Than more extreme adventures came. What followed was a series of ultra marathons, Ironmans and long multiday runs in France. He discovered an interest in climbing, which led to summits of Kilimanjaro, mountains in the Bolivian Andes, the 7,134 metre Lenin Peak, and – of course – Everest.
“I began small, I liked it. After, I said I must do these things for humanitarian causes.”
The row for peace had been several years in the making – he used to come to Lebanon every year – but the Covid-19 pandemic then the fatal 2020 Beirut port explosion put a dent in the plans.
“The city … it's the people that are most important for me.”
Mr Khatchadourian's journey ended at a naval base in Beirut, in sight of the port where the explosion took place killing more than 200, injuring thousands, and levelling large parts of the capital.
He says he has raised about $10,000 for charity. There are two main beneficiaries of the fund-raising; Achrafieh 2020, a grass-roots organisation based in the Lebanese capital that supports the local community, and T’Cap21, a French organisation that supports people with Down syndrome.
Mr Khatchadourian says the decision to support Achrafieh 2020 came after he saw an interview on French TV with Akram Nehme, who heads the organisation.
“After Everest, in 2018 I ran from France to Armenia. When I'd ran 100 marathons, I said 'what am I going to do for Lebanon? I would like to do something.'
“This time it's not only for peace, but to help an NGO. We have raised around $10,000. I would like more, because I said – 4,000km, I need $10 per kilometre. There's still time. I'm going back [and forth] until I have $40,000,” he jokes.
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Manchester United v Club America
When: Thursday, 9pm Arizona time (Friday UAE, 8am)
Zayed Sustainability Prize
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Scoreline:
Everton 4
Richarlison 13'), Sigurdsson 28', Digne 56', Walcott 64'
Manchester United 0
Man of the match: Gylfi Sigurdsson (Everton)
Sheikh Zayed's poem
When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.
Your love is ruling over my heart
Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it
Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home
You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness
Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins
You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge
You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm
Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you
You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it
Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Company name: Play:Date
Launched: March 2017 on UAE Mother’s Day
Founder: Shamim Kassibawi
Based: Dubai with operations in the UAE and US
Sector: Tech
Size: 20 employees
Stage of funding: Seed
Investors: Three founders (two silent co-founders) and one venture capital fund
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The Two Popes
Director: Fernando Meirelles
Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Jonathan Pryce
Four out of five stars
Results
1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1hr 32mins 03.897sec
2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull-Honda) at 0.745s
3. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) 37.383s
4. Lando Norris (McLaren) 46.466s
5.Sergio Perez (Red Bull-Honda) 52.047s
6. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 59.090s
7. Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) 1:06.004
8. Carlos Sainz Jr (Ferrari) 1:07.100
9. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri-Honda) 1:25.692
10. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin-Mercedes) 1:26.713,
Liverpool’s fixtures until end of 2019
Saturday, November 30, Brighton (h)
Wednesday, December 4, Everton (h)
Saturday, December 7, Bournemouth (a)
Tuesday, December 10, Salzburg (a) CL
Saturday, December 14, Watford (h)
Tuesday, December 17, Aston Villa (a) League Cup
Wednesday, December 18, Club World Cup in Qatar
Saturday, December 21, Club World Cup in Qatar
Thursday, December 26, Leicester (a)
Sunday, December 29, Wolves (h)
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
More on animal trafficking
Company%20Profile
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LEAGUE CUP QUARTER-FINAL DRAW
Stoke City v Tottenham
Brentford v Newcastle United
Arsenal v Manchester City
Everton v Manchester United
All ties are to be played the week commencing December 21.
Juventus v Napoli, Sunday, 10.45pm (UAE)
Match on Bein Sports
Spec%20sheet
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
