Even though she grew up in Florida and a few other states, Rouwayda Jaafar said Lebanon is home.
“I fell in love,” she said. “Its sites, its history. Everything that has to do with it.”
She was born in Lebanon and moved to the United States when she was two years old. In 2018, she moved to Beirut to study political science and live with her mom and other relatives.
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Jaafar, who currently lives and works in South Florida, saw firsthand how the economic situation in Lebanon had been worsening –– and then the devastating port explosion, which killed about 150 people and destroyed half the city, happened.
“When I saw it on the news, I honestly broke down and fell apart,” said Jaafar, whose family wasn’t in Beirut during the incident. “I was thinking innocent people got hurt. And within a couple of days, it just kept getting worse.”
She quickly mobilized a supply drive in three days. She set up at Maurice Ferré Park in downtown Miami last weekend. Jaafar said she collected eight boxes filled with critical medical supplies — masks, hand sanitizer and bandages — to help folks in Beirut who are suffering from the added challenge of the coronavirus pandemic.
Jaafar is organizing a second supply drive at 5 p.m. this Sunday at Our Lady of Lebanon Catholic Church in Miami. This time, she’s accepting all kinds of relief items. The effort will be followed by a vigil at 7 p.m.
“Related or not, we’re all family,” she said. “All I wanted to do was help.”
