ALHAWIAT

" In 1975, when I was 12 years old, the war erupted in Lebanon.

Because my brothers were involved in military training where we lived, in Ein el Remeneh, I naturally joined them, as I also felt the need to be a part of it.

I was the only girl of my siblings, but my father felt that it was important for me to join the struggle and defend our country. The conflict erased the barrier between men and women at that time.

​

The war started to get ugly around the 80’s, the more with the Israeli invasion. I nonetheless continued my studies, and decided in parallel to work as a nurse for the war wounded with the Red Cross . 

 

The Israeli invasion in 1982 made me aware of the dramatic magnitude of the war, as I really felt fear for the first time.

One day, our house in Beirut was bombed. When we fled to Ouzai after that, we saw cadavres along the road, and we had to go through numerous check points, at which we sometimes had to wait for hours despite the bombings.

It was a permanent state of fear, and any travel across the city or the country was dangerous. We were not free to move in our country anymore.

​

And, in September that year, there was the Sabra and Shatila massacre.. I suddenly lost 35 relatives. Because what everybody tends to forget, is that there were actually many Lebanese living in these camps and its surroundings.

 

It felt like a shock. This is when I decided to truly dedicate myself to peace.

I understood that the war needed to be stopped, immediately, and that it wasn’t leading to anything positive.