Long before its modern-day borders and its independence from colonial occupiers, warring groups have fought over the tiny strip of land that forms Lebanon today. A never-ending series of power struggles has had catastrophic consequences for the country, and today more than ever, many talented Lebanese are forced to take the difficult decision to leave.

It didn’t matter that I had lived in a Shia neighborhood till I was fourteen, where the residents shared their principles, or that my school had several Muslim students. In their opinion, I was living in sin, because I wasn’t going to a Muslim school or mostly engaging with ‘jnoubiyye’ (southerners) in Beirut.