Building Lebanon Better Installation at Khandak al Ghamik

There is something precious about small business owners in Beirut. I'm talking about craftsmen: carpenters and electricians and all those who still work with their hands to produce something in our city.

I keep on hearing that they are slowly Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 disappearing from Beirut, a place where there once was 'Souk el Najjarin' and 'Souk el Haddadin'... Souks for every little expertise you could think of! Maybe it is true, that these small businesses are closing shop. But I want to make Lebanon Better in the process of making the 'Lebanon Better' installation.

That's why I chose to go to Khandak al Ghamik to build the frame that will hold the Lebanon Better wall. This way, I am contributing to a local industry and helping local craftsmen to keep on doing what they do best in Beirut.

Khandak el Ghamik is the part of Downtown Beirut that Solider didn't take control of. So it is still inhabited by the same people that were there before the civil war. And everything still looks exactly the same. Maybe that's what Downtown would have looked like if reconstruction never happened.

Abou Ahmad will have finished work on the frame by tomorrow morning. And he would have contributed to make the Lebanon Better installation at Souk el Tayeb this Saturday. Hope to see you there!

With love,

Sherif Maktabi

Twitter: @sherifmango