When I’m eating delicious Lebanese food with my cookery class students, I can forget about all the pain. I feel loved. As a Lebanese chef currently in the UK, I know that sharing food is what makes us human.
There has been a long road between my old life in Lebanon and teaching cookery students in the UK. I was shot twice by a member of the Shia opposition during the internal conflict which broke out in Lebanon between the Sunni and Shia Muslims, and it left me paralysed for life. Through all the pain and uncertainty, cooking has become my lifeline here in the UK.
I was 24 years old the day I became paralysed. I was on my way to work a night shift. I was just opening my car when a man pointed a gun at me. I put my hands in the air and said, “I’m