MEET MIRA

My parents, my brother, and I came to Lebanon shortly before the war in Syria started, and we settled here in the Beqaa valley. We went through many difficulties. I used to work, and I would come home at 6 p.m. Then the war happened in Syria, and we had to stay in Lebanon. I was around 20 at that time. My family and I moved from place to place until I got married.

After I got married, we settled near Zahle. At first, things were much better. My husband had a shop and was doing relatively well financially. I was his second wife, he married me because he couldn’t have male children with his first wife, so he married me to be able to get boys, while staying married to her as well. We stayed married for about 11 years, and together we had two daughters and two sons. In total, he had eight girls with his first wife. 

Now we have been divorced for four years. I left and stayed on my own with the children. He helps us with the expenses and sometimes he comes to visit and eats and drinks with us. In the meantime, he lost his job and I opened my own shop. It was difficult at first and I started very small, selling boxes of cookies, but it grew and now I have a real shop that I take care of. Thanks to this, I can be more financially independent, and I don’t have to rely all the time on my ex-husband and whether he will give us money or not. I am renting a place with my children, and the shop is in one of the rooms.

At first, my husband and his first wife strongly believed that girls should not study or go to school. They believed it might not be safe, and that girls do not need to study anyway. But I insisted since I had heard great things about the education center from my neighbors and I told him I would go register our oldest daughter and her brother. So indeed, I went and registered them which really angered my husband, who insulted me, just because I registered our daughter as well. 

He told me it was pointless and there was no hope for her, and that if anything happened to her, I would bear the responsibility of it. But then they both saw how good she was doing and how happy she was, and in the end my husband’s first wife asked me to go register her daughters too. Today, three of her daughters are also enrolled in the education center.

Since they started attending the learning center, they have been happy to learn and comfortable.  My oldest daughter, who is eleven years old, is doing very well at the center, I am very happy! She is especially good in English; I am very proud of her. When I receive a message, I ask her help to read it to me because I can’t read it myself. She reads it directly in English and she translates for me. My son Hamid* is in the center too.

I have a little girl at home too. Her older sister who is in the education center started teaching her the letters at home. Thank God, the center is impacting our entire family.

During this period, I also started attending literacy classes, and it has made a big difference in my life. I feel comfortable when I go out of the house, just to be doing something that is good and that is just for me. Before, I didn’t know how to read and write much, honestly. It’s true that I have a shop and I keep records, but my daughter used to be the one helping me with most of it. Now I can handle everything myself.