One year ago, a big explosion in Port Beirut damaged homes, businesses, schools, and hospitals, killing and injuring scores. To commemorate the one year anniversary of this horrific event, RULA hosted an evening of poetry and healing with Adham Al Dimashki.

On August 1st we held this event to remember those who passed and keep their memory in our hearts. We also highlight the continued economic, health and educational challenges facing Lebanon and the path forward to a better future. This fundraiser will benefit struggling families in Lebanon who are in dire need.

Please enjoy this moving performance from Adham and if you are able, please consider donating to Rise Up Lebanon Action so we can continue to help families in need in Lebanon.

About the artist

Adham Al Dimashki is a Lebanese visual artist, actor and poet living and working in Beirut, Lebanon. He is a lecturer at the American University of Beirut, teaching art therapy and self-development. He holds an MFA from the Lebanese university, a diploma in the Art of Theater and Acting from the Modern Theater Art School, and seven certificates in drama and art therapy.

His poetry was published in the Arab world and was translated to English, French, Armenian and German. He won several prizes for his work including the Gold medal for poetry in Studio Al Fan and a gold medal for a short story in a competition organized by the Lebanese Ministry of Culture. He has also directed a series of documentaries between 2012 and 2019. 

In his multidisciplinary work, Adham Al Dimashki is engaged in a profound investigation on the possible relations between life, memory, nostalgia and the power of now through poetical representations. He tries through words, paintings, images or his own body to retrieve what was erased or to hold what could survive. He digs through his own biography, his childhood, his village and family to make visible with no restrictions the road on which, the nomad who he is, continues to walk.

You can follow Adham on Facebook, Twitter.

During the video there is a reference to the BBC video below which discusses the dire situation in Lebanon: