17th October Revolution

Since 5 to 6 years ago, when I was in the high school, I thought of my country and that it needs very much repairs... And there I took a promise on myself that I'll do my best to help in these repairs.. I felt that I should do something; a change in this society for a better one.. And, thankfully, I had a friend who shared with me the same concerns.. She was and still my bestie!

In one day of Ramadan, my friend and I was praying Taraweeh prayers at the mosque.. Fortunately, we met a righteous woman from our town.. She talked with us in a kindly-hearted way and invited us to memorize Qur'an.. So, we have started with small Surah's..

After that, she suggested if we invite our friends and she gives us weekly lessons in religious and moral teachings.. Thus, we agreed having the hope that we can repair ourselves and our society.. We started the lessons and our number started to increase.. Till we became a big family connected by the love of Allah which guided us to every good deed.

We called ourselves "Masjid Girls" since our meetings were done at masjid (mosque). And we started doing activities such as, Summer Qur'anic School (1 month), distributing foodstuffs' boxes for poor families in Ramadan, making activities for kids in Eid, arranging a Warmth Campaign gathering clothes and winter needs for refugees suffering in camps, organizing educational lectures for women and girls at the mosque's hall, visiting patients at hospital and those with special needs granting them gifts, etc..

Now, some of us have memorized the Qur'an, some have finished Bachelor degrees with excellence, some have finished masters degree, and others have became great wives and mothers.. I don't like to attribute purity to ourselves, because we're all mistaken humans, but I really feel that the seeds that we've planted 6 years ago have became trees and are giving delectable fruits.

Also I have seen many nearby towns having similar educational activities too; where the majority of their curators are ambitious women and girls who some of them are my friends. Thus, this generation is different; it is full of education, ambition and hope.

On the other side, our rulers were striving after corruption in the country; roads were unpaved and full of holes, educational curriculum was so old and had many errors, national industry was not encouraged, national currency was losing its value, Lebanese tourism was deteriorated, rages of public employees were being delayed, there was no aging insurance, etc..

The Lebanese citizens were tolerating all these problems, up to a day (17 Oct, 2019) where the Ministry of Communications issued a decision of "putting a monthly tax of 6$ on whatsapp calls". This latter was like a flame that allowed the bomb to burst; citizens from all over Lebanon went down to streets igniting cars' tires and stopping traffic. They declared that they can't tolerate anymore and that it's time for "Revolution".

A revolution was necessary when there was a big gap between most of the nation and the rulers. As if repair starting from the bottom of the pyramid was not sufficient, so that it was time to start from the top of the pyramid. Till now, this revolution have achieved great goals, most important one of them is the unity of Lebanese citizens, hoping that it will continue in the same manner or even better.