Beirut port explosion. Buildings were brought to ruins, streets were unrecognizable, and an entire city was withdrawn of its life. The entire nation was in mourning and fingers were pointed at politicians for having committed this heinous crime. Leila, a girl in her mid-twenties, was lucky to have had a narrow escape from the fate that so many were doomed to face: death.
The country became rotten. Many young people had no choice but to leave toward brighter horizons. They travelled in the worst of circumstances, to build a life for themselves, one they had long thought they could have in Lebanon. Shattered dreams did not drive everyone away. Leila was one of those who stayed. She made it a point to do so for numerous reasons, and her resilience served as an example for many people who admired her dedication to and perseverance in helping others.
Ego aside, heart full of love to give, she always put others’ needs before her own. Leila still lived with her parents, with Frollo and Diego, the cats and, Jelena, the dog. Both her parents were sick, as her dad was a stroke survivor and had difficulties functioning, and her mom had just undergone her last chemotherapy session, after a long battle with cancer. Her days started at dawn, where she would rush to the neighboring streets to feed the strays of her area. They loved her, and it was reciprocal. Work was the next item on the list of her daily routine. She would go to the office, work hard for more than ten hours a day, attend meetings, and then come back home to her parents and pets. She was their joy and they were hers.
The idea of starting a new life elsewhere, haunted her thoughts day and night. She turned down a letter of acceptance from the University of Cambridge, as well as a job at a French nonprofit. How could she leave all her loved ones behind? How would they survive without her? How would she forgive herself if she left? This is a story of love, and with love comes sacrifice.

I'm a time traveler babe. I'm from the future. I was born on the 31st of December 3021 in a colony of humans established on the planet Mars. I saw your picture in an old album on one of the platforms people of your time called the Facebook. It was a picture of very bad quality, as opposed to the 4D pictures of my century. I couldn't hear you, touch you, nor interact with you due to the limited technology you had in the 21st century. However, I immediately knew I had to do something about it. I packed my virtual bags and embarked in the SPOI (that's what we call a time machine in my days) and went back in time, just to meet you. True story.
P.S: Don't freak out. I've already adapted to your century.

As I release myself
Into the forest,
An animal in distress,
A bird that was caged,
For years on end, yes.
Pouring my heart and soul out, enraged.

Wild hearts and peaceful minds,
Running through the woods,
Escaping the dreadfulness of a mediocre life,
Living the moment,
Reaching out to the essence of existence,
Opening our souls to a life of adventures, love and friendships.

Summer of 2011. This was when my journey toward a plant-based diet and animal welfare started seeing the light of day. As I was hiking the Austrian Alps with a group of international students, I stumbled upon a herd of free range cows, lying there, peacefully, and having the time of their lives. I instantly felt a connection, but I went back to the Schloss where we were being housed and ate a meat-based dish. I was 18 at the time and was going through enormous life-changing experiences. It took me a year and a half to entirely shift my diet. My younger brother has been my biggest influence on this front since he turned vegetarian ever since he was 15 years old. I remember the days I used to make fun of him for not eating meat and how thoughtless and heedless I must have been at the time. He was the one who would always have his little animal toys around him and would spend the day playing with them. We always had our family dogs around whom we used to buy from pet shops or reputable breeders. We had no idea at the time and our parents didn't know any better back then. We all knew for sure that we loved animals and did not want any harm done to them. My greatest turning point was when I rescued my first dog back in 2012 and that was when I was able to put all the pieces together and somehow recalled my cow experience at the Alps. I finally made the connection and was ready to change my ways. I always knew that wasn't enough and that going vegan was the next step ahead because of the pain they felt... Well, I couldn't shake the thought of it out of my head. Not to mention all the negative consequences consuming meat and dairy products inflict upon our health and the environment. I wanted what was best for them. I wanted to reduce my carbon-footprint. Wanted to take care of my health. I made the ultimate shift back in December 2020, when the world was collapsing and when I realized how my actions, including the consumption of dairy products, among others, actually led to this pandemic. I learned the hard way that cruelty leads to more cruelty. When we eat meat, we are storing so much negativity inside our bodies, so much death. Change occurs one step at a time.

Other worldly beings,
Souls of ancestors,
I call upon you,
To guide the way,
For me and my brothers
In this life of sorrows, woes and blessings,
All at once,
All those feelings at once,
Together,
Contradictory, yet complementary,
Take our hand, lanterns to guide,
Show us the way, the way to fly,
Take us to salvation,
To the dream nation,
Through aviation,
To faraway lands,
Virgin grounds, unscathed soil,
Pure un-breathed air,
Lungs to fill,
Ancestors, you lead the way,
Is bereavement the only option,
To escape this world one day?
Seeking the truth, always.
To stay or to leave?
I ask you again,
Is demise the only option,
To escape this cruel world?
Wars, killings and bloodshed,
Are all we ken
In this world today.
But…
Is that light I see at the end of the tunnel?

by Julian Ribera Translated into Arabic by Alhussin Alhassan The Arabic edition was our book of the month selection for February This is an abridged English version of the book published in Tal was born in , Irbid, where he completed his secondary education. At that time there was no university in Jordan, so he was first sent to Egypt, to Al Azhar University to study medicine. He later returned to Jordan and then to Lebanon, [and finally] left to London, where he wanted to study mathematics, but

With the booming of civil society organizations in Lebanon, exploring the governance of such institutions has become essential. However, as a factor limiting these changes, those organizations still go by an archaic law, dating from the Ottoman Empire, which does not carry a section on the internal governance of such institutions, and thus limiting their accountability, transparency and the follow-up of their activities and processes. For the purpose of identifying the components which could con

Click HERE to read the article in Arabic

Deepa and the Mothers of Silence

Written by Zeina Allouche & Translated to English by Yara Zalzal


The quest for finding Deepa Darmasiri was poignant, indeed. What a sad picture it was, seeing her eaten up by all her hesitation, to finally gather the strength to reveal what she lived through. Her startled eyes, which talked about the sad event without even speaking, came in contradiction with her actual reluctance to uncover that old secret of hers. C