Following various trips (leisure and business trips), we met people from different nationalities, asking us, as Lebanese, questions we judged as outrageous, such as (but not limited to):

• How come do you have snow? Isn’t it a desert land?
• Do you have mountains?
• Do you have landmarks?
• Do you have alcohol? A nightlife?
• How come (as a woman) you are not wearing a veil?
• You’re not a Muslim?
• Isn’t it a dangerous country? A war zone?
• Lebanon, where is that on the map?
• At some point, I was expecting a question: do you have cars? You don’t use camels?

Answering such questions was a pretty funny thing, but deep inside, I was angry towards media – showing people from around the globe, a very sad side of the country…

I thought of a lot of names for the blog, but it is on a specific moment that “chasing stories” came across my mind: The photo below, shows the exact moment; while walking on the corniche in Byblos, watching all these people talking to each other’s, some couples holding hands, families playing with their kids, elder people telling younger ones how this area looked like years and years ago… Chasing stories was born. Why?

Remembering when we were kids, how our grandparents used to tell us stories to entertain us during the day (not only bed time stories) – [yes we come from a period, when youtube, easy access to dvds, wasn’t available] – we grew up to hear a different kinds of stories from our grandparents: how cities and villages changed, how people changed, how traditions changed…

We grew up to tell these stories to younger ones.

Now we watch our parents while they are telling such stories to their grand-children.

We travel, we explore, we discover, we seek adventures, to come back and tell a story to our families and friends. Our entire life turns around chasing experiences.

Nothing better to showcase this country but in its stories: the stories of the land, of the people.

To the younger generation, I am wishing to show them the diversity in this country, its contrasts; because unfortunately, some are still raised on religious differences and not tolerating the existence of the other (l’existence de l’autre). And for me, it’s a simple formula: you can only love this land, when you understand this diversity. And it’s only when you love it, that you can preserve it.

Chasing stories is a never-ending Lebanese love story, founded in the loving memory of Youssef Rahhal (a great storyteller and Lebanese citizen) who happens to be my grandfather.

For inquiries, write me on info@jessicarahhal.com

Sincerely,
Jessica Rahhal