"I repaired war-torn homes in Lebanon.Now I'm building houses in Canada."

I work on a construction site, overseeing a 19-acre housing development in Brampton, Ontario.

- Nadeem AI Ghazal

I GREW UP IN BEIRUT during a time of constant conflict. In 2006, when I was eight, war broke out between Israel and Hezbollah.

My mother's hometown of Nabatieh was bombed to oblivion.

I'll never forget her grief when she learned that the place where she had spent her youth-and where many of her relatives still lived-had been destroyed. It was an early lesson for me on the importance of home.

That idea was also central to my father's work as a construction manager in Beirut. From a young age, I visited his job sites and watched apartment buildings rise from the ground. He felt a deep sense of pride whenever he handed over the keys to families, many of whom had endured years of instability and violence. Those experiences left a lasting impression on me, and I went on to pursue a degree in architecture. Then, in 2020, the Beirut port explosion killed hundreds and damaged 77,000 homes, including ours. That night, my father and I boarded up neighbours' shattered windows and doors with plywood. I did the same across the city for weeks, covering any exposed openings to make homes livable again, even if just temporarily.