We Are the Ones Who Live Here

“When I was young, I saw Lebanon as vibrant and vast, a safe land that was full of adventure. I saw my mother, Georgette, as the sun, radiating warmth and light. Her heart was like a river that never runs dry. I loved her, and I loved Lebanon, my mother country…” Elias Demerdjian charts the decline and fall of Lebanon as it ran in parallel with, and influenced, his mother’s declining health. Follo...

“The cheese melts softly in the bread, and when I crunch on the first bite, I taste love and the strong musky smell from my grandfather's hands that stuck to the crust as he made it…” This lyrical meditation from Lyne Jradi examines how grief and love echo through the simple acts of making and eating bread… and how displacement and war can distort them. Follow us on Instagram at welebanonpod.com ,...

“Israel now bombs the olive groves, and trees that are a hundred years old and have given us their sustenance and warmth for a hundred years now burn to ash.” Farrah Khatib looks at how generations of one family have seen the ritual of the annual olive harvest change through cycles of Israeli attacks and occupation. Follow us on Instagram at welebanonpod.com , and follow Farrah at instagram.com/fa...

“Love isn’t constant. It changes with war, with silence, with the weight of memory. It builds and it ruins, and somehow, it still finds a way to return in gentler forms.” Rita Mhanna looks at the intersection of love, mental illness, family and war in this deeply moving essay. Follow us on Instagram at welebanonpod.com , and follow Rita at instagram.com/ritamhanna77 . Email us at welebanonpod@gmai...

“Life here has always been relatively absurd. But the absurdity has now heightened and had a manic break, and we’re now living in the strange aftermath.” In our Season 2 premiere, Farrah Khatib, Lyne Jradi and Rana Baghdadi explore why it’s taken us two years longer than we thought it would to make this season and what life has been like for us here. Follow us on Instagram at welebanonpod.com.

"In this season we explore in depth what it’s like to live in a land broken by war, while still maintaining our human capacity for grief love and wonder." Hello! We are proud to launch Season 2 of our podcast next week. We finished the 5 episodes of this season about a month ago. Since then, of course, the so-called "cease fire" with Israel had turned - once again - into an all-out war on our coun...

“My life now has meaning, I give my heart to love, and this is how I function better...” In our season finale, we join a small community of Afghan women in Beirut who gather for a feast to break the fast. At different points in the tides of conversation, three of the women turn inward and reflect upon their lives. Nasrin Azizy thinks about her mother and the life she’s lived. Fatema Rezaie reflect...

“Many of us have a deeply dysfunctional relationship with Lebanon, an often punishing mix of love and despair. Lebanon can really break your heart…” Laetithia Harb shares her aunt’s story of leaving Lebanon and being pulled back against her will. (Dina Saleem performs the English translation of Aunt Liliane’s words.) Jennifer Nasrallah explains why she wants to stay in Lebanon and build a future f...

“Have you ever touched the skies? Have you ever touched the clouds? Have you ever reached the moment where time and space disappear? Where you meet emptiness? I mean, there, up above, have you ever touched it?” Rita Mhanna shares with us a childhood memory of her uncle, before and after his time at war. Jennifer Nasrallah performs a monologue composed of the remembrances of three Syrian women who...

“You feel like you’re in a cage. You want to get out of it, but you can’t. Like we’re stuck…” Farrah Khatib and Rola Soboh lead us on an exploration of how the residents of the Ain el Helwe Refugee Camp see the checkpoint that separates them from the rest of Lebanon. (Voice actors include Myra Shaaban, Rana Baghdadi, Nour Al Halabi, Dima Akel, Elias Demardjian and Charles Semaan.)  Tanya Sheh...

“We want to find beauty, belonging and a sense of purpose in this troubled, strange and still beautiful country of ours…” Nour Al Halabi brings us the story of Maryam, the fisherwoman of the Manara in Beirut who is the Mother of All. (Feyrouz Abou Hasson performs the English translation of Maryam’s words.) We end with a poem to Beirut in the midst of chaos by Rita Mhanna. (This poem was translated...

Please join us on this journey! Season One launches on 3 May. Please subscribe to make sure you always get each episode as soon as it's available, and follow us on Instagram at welebanonpod .