She describes the moment of realization “it felt as if someone slapped me on the face when I realized that there is something wrong with my leg. I do not walk like everyone”

In Lebanon, being xxxxr, set against the backdrop of Arab culture, isn't just challenging; it is deemed forbidden.

In the Lebanese Penal Code, we see article 534, criminalizing “unnatural” intercourse, which some judges take advantage off to criminalize xxxxxxxxx relationships.

When we discuss the nursery founded by Tema, we cannot but associate it with her child, Karim, and her motherhood.

This place offered her comfort during hard times when she was deprived of her child for two years. Whenever Tema missed her son, she hugged a child there, with heavy pain in her heart.

It is 2014. A bus clandestinely carrying young men and women across the Syrian-Lebanese border stops in the Marj area.

Sousou, 20 years of age, stepped off the bus, then waited for her uncle to pick her up and drive her home to one of her brothers who had preceded her to Lebanon.

She looked at my mobile phone and asked, “Will you not record my words? I want to share my story with others. Yes, life is hard, but I will tell you about the difficulties and how to overcome them.”

Who is Tala?
Tala is the daughter of Roumouz.
And who is Roumouz?

Roumouz graciously welcomed me, inviting me to sit beside her on the floor, close to the bed where Tala, the four-year-old girl, lays.

It’s an unsafe world for us all.

We cannot exist if not to pander to men and their muses, to be made to look even when we don’t want to.
Cling. Cling. Cling. Cling.
The metallic sound of his belt loops rang feverously.

What if we could embrace our childhood? Would we alleviate the injustice and loneliness? This cold house requires warmth, while we did not have the supplies to provide that warmth.

The alley, where we grew up, was fraught with difficulties, and we named it “hope” versus our fear, as if we we’re saying “we are here.”