Amid security, economic and governmental crises, Lebanon has been preoccupied during the past two weeks with a tragic humanitarian issue involving a girl named Eva.
Eva hails from a Shiite family that lives in Beirut’s southern suburbs, an area that was known as the “misery belt” a quarter century ago. This area is densely occupied by Shiites, most of whom moved decades ago from south Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley. Eva, a 13-year-old middle-school student, liked to have fun and play, and hung drawings of cartoon characters on her bedroom door. Suddenly, Eva became the wife of a man she did not know. She probably still doesn’t know how or why it happened.