Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Of Amal or Hope

Yasmine is an inspiring young woman who is raising awareness about a very important cause in Lebanon. Domestic Violence.

Domestic violence is still taboo in Lebanon and even worse it is seen as permissible. The woman gets beaten up, she goes to her parents' house, they tell her to go back to her husband and the vicious cycle continues. Partly to spare the family from a "Fadiha" or scandal, partly because well what do you do? where do you go from here? How do you empower yourself?

You are somebody's daughter and now somebody's wife. But you never had the chance to be somebody yourself. Most often than not you do not have a steady source of income and even if you do, you probably have young kids to protect. And it goes on and on in a dizzying spiral.

I am not giving this subject enough justice. But solutions come with education, awareness, pressure to change and make new legislation, and social support and resources to women in need.

We all know it's there, we all know a Leila or Amal or Claude or Roula or Manal.

Help spread the word in an effort to stop domestic violence in Lebanon. Learn more about Kafa, a prominent non profit organization about women rights in Lebanon. And support Yasmine, a young and wonderful woman who I had the chance to meet in Boston and who is taking a chance to make this world a better place.
To fund "Amal" Yasmine's new project, please click here


Monday, September 15, 2014

Of Acorn and Perseverance


An ongoing tradition is to collect souvenirs from museum shops wherever I go.


The acorn which only appears on a fully mature oak represents the symbol of patience and perseverance in order to attain one's goals.