Tayma 17, from Beirut
What did your days look like, and how were they different during the war?
We still had school during the war. It was very different because I had to wake up earlier to get to school because we changed to a campus further from home. I had to go with other people and we would leave at 6:30 and I'd be back home at 5:30. I would then have lunch and study more.
I could never go to a friend's house. I used to study with friends after school at one of our houses, and I would always be with them on the weekends, but during the war, I was home all the time. My life was between my home, a car and my school. We couldn’t even visit my family in the mountains because we would have to go through dangerous roads. I got so sick of home at the end.
How did this affect your relationship with your parents and sister?
We fought a lot during the war, I think it was because I was frustrated from not getting enough sleep. School put a lot of pressure on us as they were rushing through the curriculum because we had already missed so much, and in case schools would have to shut down again. We had two weeks of nothing, then two weeks of online school, so we were really behind. I had so much work to do, so I would stay up all night studying. I was frustrated all the time, and my parents were very stressed about the war, so we were all very tense at home. We didn’t get along so well during the war.
What’s one specific memory of the war that you think about a lot?
One night, I was sitting on the balcony listening to some music, and then there was a huge explosion where the whole sky turned red, and I saw some stuff (debris) flying super high, not far from my house.
One memory I have of the war is a gathering we had with two close family friends from our neighbourhood. The family hosting us actually lives in the same building as us, so it was good that we didn’t have to travel anywhere. It was the first time in a while that we were with a big group of people, and it felt so good to all be together and have a wholesome night eating and playing games.
What’s one sound, smell or taste that reminds you most of Beirut?
It's a very noisy city, so I think the sounds of honking, motorbikes and drones remind me a lot of Beirut. That’s very Beirut to me.
What do you wish people outside of Lebanon understood about life there, and what it’s like now after the war has calmed down a bit?
I remember people asking us why we don’t leave Lebanon because of the war, and people don’t understand so well that it's our home, we can't just pack our bags and settle elsewhere. Like, I grew up here, my parents grew up here, all my friends and family are here, it is not at all as easy as people would assume. It's not a random city to me, it's my home.
If you could say anything to someone your age still living through a war, what would you tell them?
I would say to stick with your family and friends. It's the one thing that is really stable and that you can rely on in a time like this.