we are not numbers

emerging writers from Palestine tell their stories and advocate for their human rights

Huda Dawood

Huda is a Palestinian refugee from Saida, Lebanon. Her father is originally from Gaza, leaving for Lebanon when he was 17. She still has many relatives there. Huda graduated from American University in Beirut (AUB), with a major in economics and a minor in mathematics. Now, she is looking for a permanent job that will earn her a decent living–a challenge for a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon (where "people like her" are not given equal rights.) In the meantime, she tutors and works sporadically for United Youth for Lebanon. Huda likes writing to express her thoughts and dreams of a better life for her family — ideally, in their homeland, Palestine.

my work

Walls seem to be the trendy way to ignore “unwantables." Lebanon is no different when it comes to trying to "contain" refugees.
I was born in Lebanon, but government ministers do everything they can to make me feel like I'm "illegitimate."
I grew up in Lebanon’s largest refugee camp, the one most often in the news due to what often appears like “madness and mayhem”: Ein El-Helweh. But for me, it is simply “home.”
I grew up in Lebanon’s largest refugee camp, the one most often in the news due to what often appears like “madness and mayhem”: Ein El-Helweh. But for me, it is simply “home.”
The soldier looked at me and asked: “What’s your entry permission number?” This is the life of a Palestinian in Lebanon.
When the world's quarantine is over, I still will long to return home.
Two souls, destined to see only shadows?
I am in Lebanon, watching Gaza from afar, watching the numbers go up.
Ahed Tamimi chose to teach us all a lesson: that we have nothing to lose but our dignity.
Home should be a safe harbor. But in my camp, there are snipers and the voices of bullets.
It was about three years before I finally gathered the courage to ask my mother to share the story of her visit to Gaza with my father.