A Lebanese Woman

by Nuha Sinno

The way I would normally present the life of this woman would have been different if she did not chose to remain anonymous. For this reason, some of her 55 year journey in life was left out upon her request.

Born in Beirut on a hot summer day of July 1946, here her love for her homeland began. At the age of 5, her family moved to Brazil in 1951 where her father began a business in Rio de Janeiro.

She commenced her studies in a French school and for the first time started to learn a second language, different to the one she spoke at home. She says: 'It was very difficult to comprehend why people did not understand me when I first started studying, and I still remember that I tried hard to understand what my friends at school said, but for months each one of us spoke their own language", and continues to say: "I remember also when I began to understand everybody and make myself understood, it was a particular incidence at school when I wanted to get my colouring pen back of one of my classmates, while the teacher was convinced that it was hers", a small incident in her young years that was crucial for the rest of her life.

She finished high school in Brazil and decided to go back to her homeland to continue her university studies in Lebanon, the much loved land. When she arrived in Lebanon she spoke five languages all as fluent as her native tongue. In 1964 during her stay in Lebanon, she met a young man who won her heart and "filled her life", and in 1966 she graduated with a Bachelors Degree from the American University of Beirut. At this stage, she decided to go to France to continue her studies in Compared literature. She was admitted at the Sorbonne University and received an Excellency scholarship after the first year, and completed her Doctorate in Stat in 1972. By this time she was able to speak, read and write eight languages fluently.

Following a six-year separation she returned to Lebanon and married the man she loved, started her teaching career at Universities, and had her first child in 1975.

In 1977 during the Lebanese civil war, while her husband was at home, a tank shell fell on their house and took the life of the only man she ever loved. "We couldn't believe that the war would last that long, I thought that it's a minor problem, and that no one would want to cause any harm to beautiful Lebanon and Beirut […]. We had the same attachment to this land, but he never wanted to leave, he always believed that there is a peaceful solution to the Lebanese problem, and war was not necessary". She carried this idea with her trying to achieve her goal by bringing peace back to Beirut, for years shuttling between borders and putting her life thousands of time in danger to convince people to talk and listen. "I was able to speak ten languages but they would not understand any of them, I spent my whole life studying human communication languages, but I couldn't make myself understood in my own language".

In 1981 she moved with her child to Brazil, "I left Lebanon to keep the love I had for my country, my husband was taken away from us, I didn't want to loose my child too. Thirty years ago we left Lebanon to keep our family united, the second time I was running away with the life of my child".

In Brazil she lived the war and the invasion even more intensely. "Although I had all my family in Brazil I felt each bomb as if it was through on our roof, this was the most difficult time of my life […]. After a year of a heavy depression, and six month in the hospital I decided to get my life back […]. This war took my husband away destroyed my country, I just couldn't let it take the rest of my life."

In 1985, she received a professorship position in a French university, where she taught for five years, and retired in 1990 to focus on the education of her only child.

In 1992 she went back to Lebanon for a short visit, "When I finally went back after a long time, I felt Lebanon breathing again."

She already wrote four essays all dedicated to the memory of her husband, but none of them have been published yet, "There will come a day where you will buy them from a bookstore" she said to me, but it's not time yet for these stories to be read, according to her. This time will come when she is ready to go back to her homeland.

Her name is not as important as her being Lebanese, a simple example of how big the Lebanese woman is.

Previously featured biographies: The late lawyer Laure Moghaizel Writer Emily Nasrallah MP Nayla Moawad Professor Evelyn Shakir Artist Etel Adnan Writer May Ziadeh Writer Hanan Al-Shaykh Singer Fayrouz Activist Suha Bechara Philanthropist Munira Solh Former Secretary of Health Donna Shalala Educator Ilham Bisat Kalab Ambassador Selwa Roosevelt Members' Writings

Biographies to be featured in the future: Nazira Zein El Din Yvette Sursock Evelyn Accad Zahia Kaddoura Suad Joseph Edvyk Shayboub Zahia Salman Nazira Joumblat Ghada Samman Saliba Doueihy Linda Mattar Dr. Julinda Abu Nasr Myrna Boustany Nouhad Soueid Bahya Hariri Dr. Lamia Shehadeh Dr. Mona Amyuni Rose Ghurayyib Dr. Edma Abouchdid Andree Chedid Daisy El-Amir Dr. Mona Khalaf Nour El-Huda Helen Thomas Afifa Karam Queen Noor Leila Baalbaki Assia Dagher Evelyn Meconi Chantal Chawaf

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