Mirna Al Jurdy

Mirna Al Jurdy

Lebanon

In my 26 years I have witnessed war at different proximities. In 2006 I witnessed the aggression of another country on mine, in 2007 I survived a few days of civil wars and for the last decade I have secondhandedly lived through the war in Syria. I also hone within me 35 years of civil war casted upon me through intergenerational trauma. I look at my mother who barely made it out of the Sabra and Chatilla Massacre and I know in my bones that her being here and me being the byproduct of her being here is none but sheer coincidence. You see war has taught me that there is no divine plan, only humans are making plans. I believe that the only hope humanity has ever had is for other humans to make alternative plans. Plans that are void of violence, greed and hate. Plans that unite us rather than segregate us. These are the plans I intend to spend my short life, and my professional, academic and artistic careers invested in. For the past 5 years, I have been working in the humanitarian field in the protection sector and in GBV. I have lived various kinds of traumas vicariously through individuals who have fled their war-ridden countries to seek refuge in Lebanon. My time on the field allowed me to understand that violence indeed does not exist in void, violence is breed through violence. If domestic violence is capable of endowing family members with traumas and response mechanisms for generations to come. Imagine what a war can do. In light of the global status on the violence front, I believe that the realization of the slim possibility of creating change that will incur peace requires us to act now and act as one. While we may be victims we are still agents.