Road Trip Around Lebanon

I have been away from this blog for the past couple of months because I was busy getting married! Finally after 4 years with Youhanna, we decided to tie the knot and held two spontaneous and simple weddings, one in Lebanon and one in London a month later.

When considering honeymoon ideas, we thought that since we spend more time outside Lebanon than inside it (and although Lebanon spends more time inside my head than I spend in it), it was legitimate to have a honeymoon in Lebanon rather than abroad.

So where in Lebanon? Everywhere! And this is how our honeymoon ties into my PhD research. One of Safia Saadeh’s barriers to social integration is geographical immobility. The Civil War restructured an unofficial physical geographical segregation in such a way that every major social group now dominates at least one area: The Druze in the Shouf, the Shiites in the Bekaa and South Lebanon, the Sunnis in Tripoli and Sidon and parts of North Lebanon, and the Maronites in Metn, Keserwan and parts of North Lebanon. Three decades of geographical segregation led to the growth of young individuals isolated from their counterparts in other social groups (Saadeh, 1992 pp. 79-81).

Through the Explorations and Expressions Corner research methods I carried out as part of this PhD, I was able to identify that very few participants across Lebanon have traveled around Lebanon, and know more than the area that they are living in or were brought up in. This denotes that the barrier that Safia Saadeh wrote about in 1992 on a theoretical level, is still applicable today on a practical level.

Throughout my work with Uscreates, we try to ‘practice’ what we ‘preach’, and to place ourselves in the shoes of the target audience. We have even initiated the Uscreates Comfort Zone blog, where we try out things that we expect target audiences to change about their lives for the better. For example we would try to do 30 minutes of physical activity a day, or eat 5 pieces of fruit and vegetables a day.

So going back to having a honeymoon in Lebanon, this gave me the perfect opportunity to move myself outside my comfort zone, and move myself around other foreign areas in Lebanon; areas I have never been to before. The rules were:

1. We have one week

2. We can’t plan in advance

3. We can’t go to a place we have already visited before. So Tripoli, Tyr, Baalbeck, Beirut and both of our hometowns were out of the question of course, but we had the green light anywhere else!

We visited the Ministry of Tourism in Hamra, and explained our plan. The staff were very helpful, and gave us a bag full of leaflets, brochures, booklets and interactive CDs showing the multitude of touristic destinations around Lebanon – but no road maps. So we borrowed a Satellite Navigation device from a friend, hired a car, and hit the road! The Sat Nav backed up with lots of stops to ask very friendly residents for directions worked magically! We arrived at every destination with no trouble at all, and realised that lack of knowledge around roads and regions was definitely not a barrier to discover new places in Lebanon.

The map below shows the routes we took and the regions we visited. Because the journey was unplanned, our itinerary doesn’t look very intuitive: From Faqra down to Mtein and further down to Maasser El Shouf, and then back up to Taanayel and back down again to Jezzine. It actually looks pretty damn stupid! But it was fun. And although it meant driving more than four hours every day, that was the best part; going past roads we’ve never been on and seeing beautiful scenes and villages we never knew existed in Lebanon.

We spent only one day in every place, and stayed overnight in places we found out about through a brochure we had from the Dhiafee Programme. This is a programme that compiles a database of low-cost temporary accommodations around the country; from guest houses, bed and breakfasts and convents to eco-villages, charities and family homes that have an extra room to rent out! The Dhiafee Programme was an ingenious service and all the information and contact details were up to date.

So here are a few highlights of what we found out from this road trip:

• All the residents we came across from wherever in the country, were equally and genuinely nice and helpful! Of course we didn’t expect people to be hostile, but we did think they might not be very welcoming, as we did look quite foreign in most places we visited. The first questions were always: ‘Which region are you from?” and this question of course helped them locate the social group we belong to. But apart from that, and surprisingly, most people were very happy and proud that we were interested in their region, and were wonderful at pointing out all the pleasurable things we could do and see to enjoy our stay to the fullest. We shared meals, drinks and stories with them, and promised to visit again.

• Lebanon is tiny in surface area but enormous in diversity. We traveled short distances, 15-20 minutes sometimes between two villages to find that they are completely different in different ways and that they signpost that difference quite clearly: More churches or mosques suddenly, people dressed differently, different dialects, different photos and flags of political leaders and parties, etc… The shift was so sudden that sometimes in one hour we would have driven through villages denoting at least four different social groups.

• Some regions obviously receive more attention than others from governmental and non-governmental organisations. This was evident either in terms of regeneration, development, education or environmental and cultural preservation and restoration. We felt this was a real shame as it reflects non-equal opportunities controlled by varying influences that political leaders from different regions have.

All in all this was a wonderful learning experience that I will repeat in the future. There are a lot more places to discover especially in the north and south east regions. I would definitely recommend it to others, and I’m happy to share the leaflets and brochures I have from The Ministry of Tourism!

Link Tracing Helps ‘expressions corner’ Tour Lebanon

I have been silent… but BUSY. ‘expressions corner’ has toured every governorate in Lebanon, and in some cases quite a few districts in the governorate. It is almost incredible that from a handful of close friends, relatives and colleagues, I established links that span through a wide network of social activists and designers who were able to help me organise ‘expressions corner’ in their local area. Their help involved finding a venue, scheduling a day, recruiting participants and/or putting me in touch with someone who could help me better than they can.

To establish these connections, I relied on a method that we often use at Uscreates. This is Link Tracing, and it is a snowballing method which involves relying on your contacts to build more contacts, and then asking these new contacts to provide you with even more contacts, and so on until you reach the right person who is willing and capable of hosting ‘expressions corner’ in his/her local region. I refer to these hosts as ‘gatekeepers’ as they provide me with access and insight into their communities. Having only ever used this method in the UK as part of my work at Uscreates, I was dubious as to whether it would prove efficient in Lebanon as the two countries have various behavioural and cultural differences. Additionally I was concerned that long distance communications may not be reliable in Lebanon as I would need to liaise with contacts that I have never met or seen, through the only mediums I could use: Email, Skype, Twitter and Facebook. Nevertheless, the method has proved surprisingly successful, and this might be a result of the favour-exchange and socially active culture prevalent in Lebanon. The gatekeepers were not only willing to offer their time and contacts for ‘expressions corner’, but (being social activists themselves) they were also genuinely interested and passionate about this project aligning with their social integration aspirations.

Below is a Link Tracing diagram illustrating the initial contacts I had (in black), and the links established from there to finally reach the group of participants engaged in ‘expressions corner’ (in red):

Here is a quick update on the 43 participants who have expressed their views in ‘expressions corner’, and following is a mapping of the regions covered and those in progress:

7 February 2010: Tyr – 6 Participants

7 February 2010: Shouf – 1 Participant

6 March 2010: Tripoli – 4 Participants

11 April 2010: Nabatiyeh – 2 Participants

17 April 2010: Mina – 5 Participants

16 May 2010: Zahleh – 8 Participants

12 June 2010: Batroun – 3 Participants

4 July 2010: Metn – 4 Participants

11 July 2010: Sidon – 5 Participants

17 July 2010: Keserwan – 5 Participants

I am still hoping to host ‘expressions corner’ in the following locations, and any help in finding a venue and participants is much appreciated:

Shouf, Beirut, Bsharreh, Zgharta, Akkar, Baalbeck, and any other regions in the South east and Beqaa areas.

I would like to thank all those people who have contributed to this project, and particularly William, Hanane, Habib, Tonnie, Maya, Laurice, Fouad, Sarah, Roy, Mireille, Nahi, and Suhair. Your have been so amazingly supportive. And finally the biggest thank you must go to my dear brother Cedric who has helped facilitate most of ‘expressions corner’ sessions and who has proved to be extremely reliable and efficient. Strangely he had studied Hotel Management and I, Graphic Design, and somehow many years later our interests collided with this project.

An ‘expressions corner’ lunch will be held in August in Beirut, and will bring together all the individuals who were involved in Link Tracing. This is an opportunity for myself to finally meet and thank collaborators face to face, as well as for them to meet one another and share their common interests within this topic area. The lunch will also help gather feedback on ‘expressions corner’ and find out about other similar projects happening in the regions.

Lebanese Laique Pride – How big is the change?

Since the Civil War, all marches, demonstrations and rallys have supported one political party or the other, but Lebanese Laique Pride is different. For the first time in over 30 years, a global rally was organized by a small group of friends at grassroots and disseminated through a heavy usage of social media (Facebook, Twitter, blogging…). The rally demanded a secular Lebanese Government. It took place on the same day and at the same time – the 25th of April 2010 at 11:00 am – in many major cities around the world. Over 3000 marched in Beirut chanting secularism, and Lebanese abroad in Paris, London, Brazil, etc. did the same. I made sure to attend the London Rally despite road closures for the London Marathon 2010.

The rally called for the full implementation of article (c) of the Lebanese Constitution’s preamble:

“Respect for the freedom of opinion and belief,” “social justice,” and “equality of rights and duties between all citizens without discrimination or preference.”

The rally’s demands were as follows:

“- Non intervention of religious institutions in state affairs as much as the non intervention of the state in citizens’ freedom of worship;
- Independence of people’s representatives from any allegiance to religious leaders and the sectarian system;
- Laws respecting human rights and absolute equality between women and men;
- A Lebanese civil code for personal status;
- Reinforcement of public education to promote citizenship values among coming generations;
- Securing equal opportunities in employment in the public sector based on qualifications rather than religion, race or gender;
- An independent judiciary in charge of protecting citizens’ rights in an attempt to circumvent the unhealthy predominant social habit of resorting to the power of kin-groups for backing.”

Rallying for change is one of the many methods for creating a tipping point. But in this case, the change is a challenge. Secularism is not a very familiar term among many Lebanese, and ‘expressions corner’ so far has identified that many find it synonymous to atheism, or feel they will no longer be represented in a secular government. So yes, 3 thousand over 4 million citizens is not a majority, and one rally is not enough for making a change this big, but what it can do is populate the use of the word ‘secularism’, raise people’s curiosity towards it, and introduce an alternative that many may have never even considered or knew existed. The rally is not the change, but it is one step closer to change.

However, what I find more challenging than changing a policy at a governmental level, is changing people’s social integration behaviours. If most Lebanese are unwilling to integrate with others from another sect, region or political affiliation, a change in political structure will be no more than ink on paper, and the social structure and its segregation will remain the same through the behaviours of most of those who didn’t turn up to the rally today. I believe a nudge effect should be introduced through various small initiatives at grassroots among local communities, to prepare them and motivate them to change their behaviours towards social integration. When nudging has achieved its goal, a final push through policy change for a secular government will be the cherry on top!

‘expressions corner’ in Kazamaza

Kazamaza is a new online and print magazine launched in Lebanon beginning of 2010. It’s mission is collaborative and non-conformist, building its content from the creative wealth of young adults 18 and older. Kazamaza and my PhD share many commonalities, including the target audience we are reaching. Therefore, ‘expressions corner’ was hosted as part of a number of Kazamaza Studios held with young adults to to generate content for the online and offline magazine.

Below are two articles about ‘expressions corner’ published in Kazamaza Issue 0+ and 1 respectively. The first article summarises general findings from ‘expressions corner’ Tyr, and the second draws on findings from ‘expressions corner’ Tyr and Tripoi in relation to Issue 1′s theme: Power and Authority.

‘expressions corner’ Launches in Tyr!

‘expressions corner’ was launched today for the first time within a Kazamaza studio which took place in Tyr. 7 wonderful 18+ participants took part in ‘expressions corner’ and absolutely loved the experience and opportunity to voice their opinions on issues that they live through every day without giving them a second thought. In ‘expressions corner’ they had cards that represented things they love, things they hate, things they don’t know about, and things they’ve never even thought about; lying side by side with equal importance. When asked for feedback, participants expressed: “No one ever asks about what we think or the ideas that we have about all these things.” According to Tonnie Choueiri who did a great job managing and facilitating ‘expressions corner’, participants were fighting over who should go next! The last participant shared with us this lovely feedback:

“If there hadn’t been ‘expressions corner’, this would have been a normal day, but now it has been a special one. I was the last one to go into ‘expressions corner’, so I could have missed it, but God wanted me to have the experience, so I got the chance, even though the workshop had already ended.”

I am happy that such a new method introduced to such a new audience, yielded such a successful outcome! Let’s hope that in the future, this method will prove successful with different audiences in different Lebanese regions as well…