Story of Sarah

My name is Sarah Abdallah. I live in France with my family, I am Lebanese. I have technical background and have been an activist for over 6 years, working closely with CSOs from the garbage crisis in 2015, until now. We moved to France because of the poor quality of life in #Lebanon. I have a new born, he is a month old, and I could not secure the medical care I need for him.

I work on initiatives focused on women’s rights & activism. I try to get work opportunities to get fresh money, which can go back into Lebanon & improve the economy. I am lead an online platform of communities of over 4000 developers, as everything is easy remotely. I work also on enhancing employability too, including working on CVs. It’s important to make sure people are working in the right places.

I stopped going to the streets to protest about 8 months ago when I found out I was pregnant. I had been going to the streets to protest since 17th October ‘19, but they started firing tear gas at us & the problems started escalating. It became too unsafe. I decided to focus my energy on something else & Lebanon needs to do the same – protesting isn’t working anymore.

A big problem is that politicians send few people dressed in normal clothes to create problems to attempt to stop people from going to the streets. The idea is to decrease the revolution & for people to lose confidence in each other. CSOs are divided, they do not focus on a common cause, they fight between each other. Most Lebanese are demotivated at the moment, which is why we see people going after sectarian leaders.

I am not hopeful in the short run. Due to the people being fed & believing lies for 30 years, we will need more disasters for them to realise. We have been fed lies for too long, & they need to realise. People have been unable to see reality.

I want to work for what is best for Lebanon, which I can do from here. I love my country and community. My heart is still in Beirut. Change might start soon, but it depends when we reach the bottom. In 5 years, perhaps, it could start to get better. I will go back to Lebanon. From the first signal, I will leave France and go back.

Representative Photo