Qana

    The news struck me.

    Every time I close my eyes I see the terrible pictures of the dead children. How can it be?? I hope with the help of Allah children won't suffer in this war anymore.
    Last night I could not sleep. I was crying and crying and the tears would not dry. Our dead children, the future of our beloved nation being taken out of the ruins, lay one by one in a long line of dead little bodies. How can that be?
    I couldn't eat anything either, I had no appetite. I felt helpless and hopeless. Did not Lebanon suffer enough? After so many years of war, death and destruction, we want to become part of the peaceful, civilized world. A world in which atfal (children) play and grow up and go to school, not die from a barbarian Israeli attack.
    I pray to Allah, that better day will come and that Inshallah, we will reconstruct our nation.
    I hope now the whole world understands that enough is enough… that war is not the solution… and negotiation is. I can not believe that someone deliberately kills little children… I refuse to believe it…But what Israel did is Majzara - massacre … I have no other word to describe this. Little children paid with their life. May this be the last victims of this unnecessary war.

The humanitarian crisis in Lebanon

    As a Lebanese expatriate living in Germany, It is very hard and sad for me to see the TV reports of the war in Lebanon.
    Until 4 weeks ago, I thought that Lebanon regained it`s status as Switzerland of Middle East. I remeber my grandparents used to tell me stories about Lebanon in the past:
"... Lebanon in the mid-60s used to be Switzerland of the Middle East. We had one of the most beautiful countries on earth. We were so lucky to have such a pretty country, a very small country where you can ski and swim in the same season...".
    I was so proud to be a Lebanese... to know that I am a part of this special country. Now it seems like everything is collapsing in Lebanon, and it retreats back to the situation it was on 1982. Lebanon citizens suffer a lot, more than most of us can imagine. They are forced to leave their homes, and run away leaving everything behind, while they are exposed to Israeli attacks, day after day. And if this is not enough, they can't just get into a car and drive to a safe place. Most of the main roads and bridges have been destroyed or seriously damaged in the attacks so it became a huge problem to move from place to place.
    Lebanese citizens suffer due to a lack of fuel, medication, food and many other basic human needs. Hospitals are full, and hospital staff barely manage to care for the patients.
    I think the reason for this situation is very complicated. For years Lebanon has been split from the inside - civil wars, struggles for power between ethnic groups and incursions of outsiders (France, Israel, Syria... and now they say even Iran).
    I think that countries worldwide, especially the rich ones, must send a humanitarian assistance to the citizens of Lebanon immediately.

And I – stand here, far away… and cry for my country…

Hi! My name is Shirin...

Hi! My name is Shirin. I was born in Beirut, Lebanon. I am 22 years old, and i live in Berlin. I study art and education at the university. My family moved to Germany when i was 12 years old. I miss Lebanon, my homeland very much. I belong there and hope with the help of Allah, to come back after completion of my studies. I care for my people and think they deserve more, to live a better life. I like to create drawings to express my feelings, and sometimes have something to say about things that happen in my country. Now... I just don't know where to start..I feel so helpless... and sometimes I even cry at night and pray that with the help of Allah the war will end soon.

I have a lot of friends and family there, and I myself was in Beirut at the begigning of the attack. It took me about a week to get out and come back to Germany. Since I came back I keep in touch with my family there and know exactly what is going on in Lebanon... I invite you to visit me and get to know me. As I wrote before, I create drawings as a way to express myself. I saw a lot of blogs about the war, and I thought to do something different. I intend to add one of my drawings each time I will update the blog, in order to express my opinion about the situation in Lebanon. Hope you like the idea, and I invite you all to share your opinion with me and my readers.