‘’I was 22 when I became a widow. Our daughter was only a baby when he passed away. I think that was the worst time of my life. We were in the midst of the war and I was going through a deep depression while I needed to take care of my child. To make some extra cash I would rent out a room in my house. One day, 3 years after my husband died I was on the beach staring into the sea when I got a vision. I felt such a strong connection to the waves. I realized that the sea was trying to tell me something. The next day I felt a strong urge to go fishing. I caught quite some fish and I sold it to the nearby restaurants. Every day I would go back to the sea to fish. I fell in love with fishing and I was earning enough money to provide for my daughter. I did that for twelve years. People would ask me: ‘’why don’t you just sell the fish directly to the people?’’ So one day, I bought two tables and I put them on my terrace in front of my house. People knew about me so every time more and more customers would come. I invested all my savings into my terrace. Everything you see here, I build with my own hands and my own money. Every winter the terrace gets damaged by the waves. Sometimes people ask me if that upsets me. Of course it doesn’t. How can the sea upset me? It has given me life.’’
(Batroun, Lebanon)