½ ‘’As a kid I was never allowed to play outside. My parents were always afraid something bad would happen to me. There was not much to do at home but play video games. That is how I developed a gaming addiction. When I turned 12, my dad passed away. Instead of mourning my father, I suddenly felt this immense freedom. For the first time in my life I could just leave the house and come back home when ever I wanted. At the time, I was really into metal and I had long hair and piercings. At school I was bullied a lot. At 17, I graduated high school and I went to Cyprus to study graphic design, a huge passion of mine. One night, I went to see a friend and he offered me to smoke a joint. I thought we were smoking weed but it turned out it was another, much stronger drugs called K2. After one week I was completely addicted. During the next four years all I did was use drugs. At some point I even became a dealer myself. Everyone knew me but nobody really knew me. Everyone wanted something from me but nobody was my friend.“

3/3’‘I am so blessed because despite of everything I married the love of my life. We have three children and two grandchildren. Having a disability here in Lebanon is not easy. There is still a lot of prejudice and many public facilities are still unaccessible for people in wheelchairs and other disabilities. I even advise the local authorities on matters concerning the disabled. However, I am still very optimistic about the future. I taught myself how to read and write. I even wrote two books about my life. I learned that in life it is not about what happens to you but how you respond to it.“
(Beirut, Lebanon)

2/3 “I have always been really insecure about dating. I have always wanted to find my other half but I felt that with one arm, I can not offer a woman what she deserves. I can’t even give her a full hug because I only have one arm to hold her. One day I was walking down the street and I saw a girl with long wavy hair and a beautiful nose. She agreed to go out with me. After a while she introduced me to her parents. They did not accept me. They asked her how she could even consider a boy with one arm that was selling newspapers. Instead of listening to her parents she defended me. She said that all she cared about was that I am a good person. The way she defended me, right there in front of her own parents made me realize that she was the one that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.”
(Beirut, Lebanon)

1/3‘’At sixteen, I was working with my dad in our wood workshop when I got into an accident and I lost my arm. I come from a very poor family so I never had a proper education. I never learned how to read or write. When I lost my arm, I had no diploma to fall back on. During the war there was a great demand for newspapers so I became a newspaper boy. Every day I would finish my shift at 4PM and then I would study the paper of that day. I wanted to be able to read about the things everybody was talking about. I would study word for word. That way, I taught myself how to read and write.“
(Beirut, Lebanon)