Category Archives: Blog

Great news! Our new mental health initiative in Lebanon was just featured in two new articles. Today, the Daily Star published an article, “Youth Launch Mental Health Awareness Group”, about our storytelling event earlier this week. And if you read Arabic, you can also read about the work we’re doing in an article by المدن.

We have a number of upcoming events currently being scheduled, since our first event was such a success–with other 200 in attendance! It’s inspiring to see young people in Beirut taking the lead in changing the conversation on an issue which affects people of all ages, classes, religions, and nationalities. There’s still so much work to be done–we’re just getting started.

Last night in Beirut, over 200 people attended our empowering mental health awareness event at the American University of Beirut. Many congratulations to the brave young speakers who dared to share their own personal struggles with mental illness to help open minds and save lives. It was touching to see such a large audience interested in hearing about an issue rarely spoken about in public in Lebanon.

My inspiration for creating this event and group came from an unexpected source. While preparing to teach a workshop on physical disability in Lebanon, I asked the Lebanese sponsors of the event if I should discuss mental illness too. “In Lebanon,” my host said, “we don’t see mental illness as a disability, and we never talk about in public because it brings shame.” As a mental health advocate and disability activist for over a decade, his words got me thinking about the lack of mental health advocacy and discourse in Lebanon. Since I had directed mental health awareness programs in the United States while a student at Brown, I began to wonder if a similar program of empowerment might work in Beirut. But I knew I couldn’t do it alone–so I consulted several of my former students to see if they would be interested in raising awareness about mental health in Lebanon too. And with that, a movement was born. For the name of our group, we chose the Arabic word WA3I/وعي (“awareness”) to broadcast our message and mission. We’re very grateful that so many attendees found our event last night inspirational and educational–it’s the first of many more to come! To join or learn more about WA3I, please contact wa3ilebanon@gmail.com.

Tonight in Beirut, I will be joining with students and recent alumni to support them as they make history as the first young people in Lebanon to come together as a group to tell their stories of living with mental illness for an audience. I was inspired to put together this event (and this mental health awareness group) from an unexpected source–which I will be discussing soon. I’ve been very moved by the courage of these young mental health revolutionaries–who are daring to say no to stigma and shame to help open minds and save lives. Please come and support them as they make history and share their struggles and triumphs with honesty, humor, and strength. To contact WA3I, our new awareness group, please email wa3ilebanon@gmail.com.

On Sunday, I took one of my young Syrian refugee friends out for brunch in Beirut. Because of the war, he’s been stuck shining shoes the past few years instead of attending school. So whenever we spend time together, I try to teach him whatever I can about the world, and share photos with him from my far-flung travels. On Sunday, I told him about my travels in Mongolia–a country he had never heard of–and showed him photos of solitary yurts set on the country’s vast open steppe. An hour later into our conversation, when we were talking about Syria and what remains in his hometown, he said, “In Syria, everything has been flattened, and in my hometown there are no houses or buildings left–now it looks just like Mongolia.”

Tonight in Lebanon, Salma Hayek will be hitting the red carpet for the Beirut premiere of her new film The Prophet–an animated adaptation of Khalil Gibran’s classic book. Gibran was born in Lebanon in 1883 and emigrated as a young man to Boston–where he penned The Prophet in 1923. Tonight’s premiere at Beirut Souks’ Cinemacity will mark the first time that Lebanon has hosted the world premiere of any film. Since I’ve long been a fan of Gibran–and loved visiting his mausoleum and museum in Lebanon–I’m excited to see this new film (plus my friend voices one of the characters). While most Gibran quotes disseminated on Twitter and Facebook read as feel-good spiritual aphorisms, they paint an incomplete portrait of Gibran’s life, politics, and work. For instance, Gibran was often incredibly critical of his homeland. Take, for example, the lines of his poetry below–in which Gibran makes a scathing attack on his “countrymen.”

Knowledge is a light, enriching the warmth of life,
And all may partake who seek it out;
But you, my countrymen, seek out darkness and flee the light,
Awaiting the coming of water from the rock,
And your nation’s misery is your crime.
I do not forgive you your sins, for you know what you are doing.

Humanity is a brilliant river singing its way and carrying with it the mountains’ secrets into the heart of the sea;
But you, my countrymen, are stagnant marshes infested with insects and vipers…

Fear not the phantom of death, my countrymen,
For his greatness and mercy will refuse to approach your smallness;
And dread not the dagger, for it will decline to be lodged in your shallow hearts.

I hate you, my countrymen, because you hate glory and greatness.
I despise you because you despise yourselves.
I am your enemy, for you refuse to realize that you are
the enemies of the goddesses.

If you travel to Lebanon, be sure to visit the mausoleum and museum of Khalil Gibran. And if you can’t journey to Lebanon, don’t worry–because the spirit of Gibran will soon be coming to movie screens around the world in the animated film version of his popular masterpiece–The Prophet…

I give over to you, old desert
The illustrious caravans’ thirst
As they moved across solemn fevers
With no frame to protect them from thievery
Their breasts indifferent to obloquy
Open and hospitable
Under an unmonopolized sun…

Tell me, old desert
How many dunes refusing all framework
Must you overturn
To free the storm from its debt
How many years must you fatten
To lighten the sand rose
Of its glass silence

— Tahar Bekri, I Call You Tunisia

Founded in 670, the holy city of Kairouan was one of the most important centers for Islamic learning and scholarship in North Africa in the medieval period. A few weeks ago, while exploring Tunisia, I visited the city’s Great Mosque and scattered Sufi shrines. Wandering through the quiet and peaceful medina of Kairouan, I found myself wishing I could move there…

The last time I was in Mali, I journeyed with my Malian family from our house in Bamako to a Save the Children school in Kolondieba–just a few miles from the Ivory Coast border. As guests of the town, we had the opportunity to speak with many parents and students about the success of the Save the Children schools in the area and learn more in general about education in Mali. A new article in the Guardian looks at the state of education in Mali today…

I’m spiritual by nature. Sufism answers my questions by all means. Sufism is purity that defines love on a whole new level and what more beautiful way to narrate it than through music. My means of getting the word across is by my voice so I feel empowered by Sufi music.

— Quratulain Balouch

In 2013, the shrine of Sufi saint Sidi Bou Said was deliberately set on fire–a fate which befell over thirty other Sufi shrines in Tunisia at the time. Several Sufi manuscripts and Qurans were burnt in the fire as well. UNESCO issued an official statement condemning the attack and offered assistance to restore the shrine. Irina Bokova, UNESCO’s Director-General, stated: “The torching of this symbolic 13th century site, that gave rise to the village of Sidi Bou Said, marks yet another step in the campaign of destruction against Tunisia’s cultural heritage and history. This tragic act not only strikes at the spiritual and historical heritage of Tunisia, but also at Tunisian society’s values of tolerance and respect for different beliefs and cultural diversity.”

When I visited the Sufi shrine of Sidi Bou Said earlier this month, I was very impressed with the complete restoration of the shrine. One would never know that just two years ago it was reduced to rubble through a callous act of hate. What a difference a few years makes! Today, the shrine is once again an oasis of peace–a quiet place for dervishes, locals, and tourists to come and reflect. If you travel to Tunisia, do pay a visit to this beautiful Sufi shrine…