Fawda Twenty Twenty Episode 26 – Aziza Sbaity

Aziza Sbaity is the fastest woman in Lebanese history, clocking in at 11.73 seconds in the 100 meter dash in Qatar. She has battled a lifetime of adversity to get where she is fleeing the Liberian civil war at the age of 10, becoming estranged from her mother for 8 years, being discriminated against in Lebanon, and competing professionally with hamstring syndrome. Here, she mentions the Kafala system, among many other issues.

Aziza starts by telling us how she became the fastest women in Lebanese history (1:06), the moment she realised that she can compete professionally (2:43), fleeing Liberia as a kid due to civil war (6:10), and her connection with Liberia and her mother (8:45). She then talks about moving to Lebanon at the age of 10 and adjusting to life there (12:28), her first day of school at SABIS and not knowing that she’d be viewed as an “outsider” in Lebanon (15:25), Lebanese society normalising discriminatory terms (17:46), how to raise people’s awareness on racial matters (21:56), Lebanese government endorsing modern day slavery through the Kafala system (26:03), racial issues even being prevalent with the younger generation (28:13), and how Aziza raised awareness in her school (31:52). 

https://fawdatwentytwenty.podbean.com/e/episode-26-aziza-sbaity/

English | December 31, 2020

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