Walid H., who just turned 29, graduated from the Arts Institute of Music in Syria. Before his displacement to Lebanon six months ago, he used to live in the Mezzeh slums in Damascus. He does not know exactly who is responsible for his anguish, but lately he has grown fearful of everything that goes on in Syria. He is afraid of the opposition, which raises slogans either with or against the people, and he equally fears the regime, which has an exaggerated view of the security apparatus that works according to the theory of "guilty until proven innocent." One morning, he was awoken by the voice of the Lebanese singer Fairuz — whom all Syrians love to listen to in the morning. Suddenly, he decided to leave the nothingness that he owned in Syria and moved to Lebanon.
With only his identity card, his guitar, a nearly empty suitcase and 2,000 Syrian lira [$14.58], he left for Lebanon. In the evenings, he would use his suitcase as a pillow and slept on the sidewalks of Hamra Street in Beirut. Today, six months after his displacement, he has a room in the slums of the Ouzai neighborhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs. He said, “Nothing has changed. We are still the same: citizens of the Arab slums.”
