Astrid van Genderen Stort

Amid the rubble, a Lebanese family works to rebuild normal life



Adeeb Rahma is welcoming and her spirit undiminished despite the five-week war that destroyed most of her home town of Aita Ech Chaab and forced her family to move for now to another town. “My husband and our eight children were told by the Israelis through loudspeakers to leave Aita Ech Chaab and our homes immediately … my daughter was still barefoot when we raced off in our pick-up,” said Adeeb, who had lived her whole life in the town. “We stayed 15 days in Rmaich with 55 people in a house, then 15 days in Sidon,” she said. “When we came back to Aita the inside of our house had been [destroyed] …”