Mikita, 22, from Beirut
What's something about life in Lebanon that outsiders don't often understand or something that they overlook?
There's so much diversity in this country and people are always so welcoming. People in Beirut are very spontaneous and are always up for a good time.
There's so much to do in this country. For example, you can wake up skiing in the mountains full of snow, and then just an hour away, you can go and surf in the ocean. There's so much freedom.
Can you describe a day when you felt particularly worried or scared and how you managed those feelings?
When the bombing started in Beirut, I was staying at my dad's with my boyfriend at the time. At night, it was so loud, you would hear the explosions that happened in Dahieh, and it would wake us up. One day, I was at work, and we wanted to go to the mountains together with my boyfriend. I was still at the office. I was stuck in the office and I was complaining.
It's the war, like, why am I working right now? I shouldn't be. And on that day was the biggest explosion, and I was underground in the lower level. The whole building shook, and I thought it was gonna collapse on top of us, and well, I was completely petrified and I couldn't move for probably 15 minutes. My mind blacked out and I didn’t understand what was happening. And my boss came into my office.
He just looked at me and started laughing, and he said, "Oh, there was just explosion.” I looked at him, thinking he’s crazy for laughing right now, but I now know that everyone has a different coping mechanism and a lot of people just laugh. Because when the situation is so bad and you feel so hopeless so much of the time that some people just need to laugh. My boyfriend rushed to pick me up, and we went up to the mountains together because we thought, okay, it's over, but the mountains are safer.
Israel announced that they were gonna bomb different places in the country where they thought they were keeping arms when we were already halfway up the mountain. We stopped for gas in Mayrouba and my aunt calls me shouting “Where are you? They’re going to bomb Mayrouba!” Two minutes after we left, they bombed the main road where we just were. We finally got to the mountains and we were both so shaken. To distract ourselves, we just listened to music on my boyfriend’s record player and it made me feel so much better. That was the worst and most terrifying day.
In the face of so much uncertainty now with this war, what keeps you going every day?
I feel more safe. Although everyone has PTSD, like, if a door slams, everyone jumps, or people are terrifies when they hear fireworks. But we just keep going. Most people have been very resilient. But to be honest for me, being in denial is the the only thing getting me through.