When Marina El Khawand, then eighteen, witnessed her hometown of Beirut destroyed by the massive 2020 port explosion, she felt compelled to assist. Today, at the age of 24, she is one of five laureates at the Young Activists Summit awards ceremony held at the UN in Geneva on Thursday. She talked about how the tragedy of that day gave rise to a movement that has helped thousands of people in need receive free medication and counsel.
Her family encouraged her to leave the nation and pursue her education overseas during the pandemonium of the explosion, which took over 220 people. However, one day she went on her own to Karantina, one of the most severely damaged neighbourhoods, which looked like “a war zone,”and entered a building to look for an elderly woman who was ill and had refused to leave.
Khawand, now a lawyer, remembers stopping at the door because she was afraid of what might be inside. She described how relieved she was to see a slight movement in the woman’s chest. I entered and I saw an old lady, pale and not moving,” she added.
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