Darkness contributes to conflict. When you can\u2019t see what they tell you is your enemy, you will live in perpetual fear.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n TRIPOLI \u2014 \u201cWe used to go to the Army in handcuffs, now we go to them with lightbulbs,\u201d jokes Bassam*, a young ex-combatant from Tripoli\u2019s Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The men sitting around him in a circle break out into laughter. They\u2019re gathered together at MARCH Lebanon, a peace-building NGO and community center in Tripoli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not long ago, these same young men \u2014 now close friends \u2014 were sworn enemies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But since 2011 they\u2019ve been working through MARCH to fight against the social divisions that once separated their two adjacent neighborhoods: Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their latest project: setting up solar-powered streetlights throughout both of them. The participants have installed a total of 382 solar panels since the project began in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen are marked with the bullet holes of recurring sectarian-political battles, which were only exacerbated by the outbreak of the Civil War in Syria in 2011. The fighting has killed hundreds of casualties since it began simmering decades ago and ended in 2015 with the Lebanese Army\u2019s deployment to the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It remains under the watch of the military today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A bright idea<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Besides the simmering violence, darkened streets and neighborhoods \u201cused to be one of our pains in this city,\u201d says Ahmad Shaaban, a Tabbaneh resident who has been working with MARCH for the past eight years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lebanese authorities have\u00a0mismanaged the electricity sector\u00a0for decades, especially neglecting the country\u2019s north and south. Like the rest of Lebanon, Tripoli \u2014 especially Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh \u2014 has suffered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Power supply dimmed even further due to the economic crisis that struck Lebanon in 2019, reducing the capacities of state provider \u00c9lectricit\u00e9 du Liban (EDL), and inflating the cost of private generator subscriptions beyond the means of most Lebanese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Municipalities and residents across the country have resorted, instead, to solar power for their electricity needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MARCH participants decided the best way to tackle the dark streets in their own corner of Tripoli would be to install solar-powered street lights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe symbol of this project lies in the fact that all three sides \u2014 us [Bab al-Tabbaneh residents], Jabal Mohsen residents and the Lebanese Army, all of whom were fighting against each other, worked together and installed the solar panels hand in hand,\u201d says Bassam, who fought in Syria against the Assad regime and served years in Lebanese prisons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDarkness contributes to conflict,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen you can\u2019t see what they tell you is your enemy, you will live in perpetual fear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhich always eventually leads to conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n MARCH has been\u00a0building bridges between the communities\u00a0of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al Tabbaneh since 2011, through a conflict resolution and mediation program, vocational training, therapy and other services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI used to fight the people from Jabal. The fact that we\u2019re sitting here today, it would have been impossible a few years ago,\u201d Shaaban, 39, says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey were our enemies. I was shot by them three times in the fights,\u201d he says, pointing to his chest and arm. He went to prison for a year when he was 28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Atrice Hussein, 33, a fellow MARCH volunteer, eventually persuaded Shaaban to join the NGO a few years ago. \u201cWe worked on ourselves a lot. It was really hard at first,\u201d Shaaban recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI had a really negative idea about people from the Jabal, but then we reached the point where we were having lunch together. And repairing the area together. I realized soon enough that we were really the same.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That change has branched outside of his own work at MARCH, Shaaban adds. \u201cMy father didn\u2019t accept that I was working with people from the Jabal at first. But now it has changed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNot even the politicians could have accomplished what MARCH did,\u201d says Shaaban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mahmoud al-Omar, a 31-year-old ex-combatant from Jabal Mohsen, now hangs out \u201cevery day\u201d with people from both sides of the street that divides the two neighborhoods, he says. \u201cAt each other’s homes, in cafes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The solar panel project has brought them even closer together. After receiving training, they set out to install the panels. \u201cWe’re working in each other’s areas and we\u2019re excited about it,\u201d Omar says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was installing solar panels in an area where before, I couldn\u2019t even stand without being shot,\u201d says Shaaban. \u201cNow I go for arguileh at their houses, before, I used to lie in wait for them bearing a rifle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They also worked on solar-powered water pumps to supply the communities with water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPeople were happy, they would open up their homes and welcome us when we asked to install [panels] from their balconies,\u201d Bassam says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are also gaining the community\u2019s trust,\u201d Hussein says. \u201cWe used to be the bad boys, this is how society looked at us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The initiative also installed solar lights on Army checkpoints throughout the city, where previously, residents looked at soldiers with suspicion and distrust due to the Army\u2019s hard-security approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Acts of service<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Volunteers say the project has had a tangible impact. \u201cThe light helped reduce the incidents of theft and drug use,\u201d Shaaban says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, pedestrians can see at night along the pothole-ridden streets and dilapidated sidewalks, which, in the dark, used to be a safety issue for residents, especially the elderly, he adds. Many elderly used to get injured walking in the darkness, according to Shaaban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSomeone once attacked me attempting to steal my purse on my way back home on this very street,\u201d Aman al-Zaabi, a Bab al-Tabbaneh resident, tells L\u2019Orient Today<\/em> while walking home with her child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI started screaming until he ran off and I couldn\u2019t see his face because it was dark.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI have three young girls who I\u2019m scared of being subjected to harassment at night, I\u2019m more at ease now,\u201d Zaabi adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MARCH volunteer Omar drives one of the organization\u2019s tuktuks, bearing a sign that reads \u201cLove and War Tour,\u201d gesturing at streets with potholes and alleyway staircases that he says are now lit after sunset because of the solar panels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cJust in this stretch, we got at least 20 lamps working now,\u201d Ali Baiti says, standing next to his friend\u2019s shisha shop in Jabal Mohsen, right at the former demarcation line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNow, we have less theft and no one dares anymore to do drugs here after dark,\u201d which nearly all local residents and MARCH volunteers who spoke with L\u2019Orient Today<\/em> said is a huge problem in Tripoli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Carpenter Omar al-Mahmoud\u2019s wood workshop, in business for 30 years, lies in Bab al-Tabbaneh, adjacent to the Nasiri Mosque now adorned with at least a dozen functional street lamps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He says people used to sneak into his electricity-deprived workshop to do drugs. Even though he still can\u2019t afford a private generator subscription for light, he says the lit street now attracts fewer drug users into his workplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ahmad Aetro, who owns a clothing shop in Bab al-Tabbaneh adds that the lighting now means residents can \u201cattend morning prayer,\u201d which takes place at dawn, just before the sun rises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt reinforced coexistence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n *Full name has been omitted at the interviewee\u2019s request to preserve their privacy<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.marchlebanon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/2024_0221_13553800_758719.jpg\")
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