Wearing a suit and tie, Mark Darido, 24, and Roudy Hanna, 22, headed to downtown Beirut on January 26 with a few plastic tables and an oven.
For the first time in their life, they made saj, a traditional Lebanese thin flatbread garnished with thyme, cheese or meat.
Mark and Roudy are an odd pair. Saj is a morning meal found in cheap bakeries, not a food that elegant bespectacled young men with university degrees sell in the street.
But they wanted to make a point. Both had just been fired for reasons linked to their involvement in Lebanon’s massive anti-government protests that started on October 17, they said.
They stuck a sign on their oven that read: “We got fired but we won’t give up. Welcome to ‘thawra’ saj.”
In Arabic, “thawra” means revolution. The word has been used by protesters to describe their movement that calls for the country’s elite to step down after decades of corruption and mismanagement.
We wear our ties and sell saj. It's a message: we Lebanese people don't give up
After they were all set up, a local television crew approached Mark and Roudy for an interview. They were stumped. They did not actually know how to make saj.
The oven had been sitting in Roudy’s home, unused, for the past two years. A friend of his father’s had left it there after closing his shop.
A cameraman interrupted the interview to teach them quickly before he started filming them again.
Ten days later, Mark jokes that he has become a “king of saj”, which are sold for between one and two dollars each. Roudy specialises in making fresh juices.
“We make a little profit, enough to cover accumulated rent that I could not pay,” said Mark. “But we give away most of our saj for free.”
They have since moved to a small tent in downtown Beirut that was donated by a protester who did not reveal their identity.
Mark and Roudy are emblematic of Lebanon’s shrinking middle class who have the most to lose from the country’s economic crisis.
Today, 30 per cent of Lebanese live below the poverty line, but that percentage could climb to 50 if nothing changes, the World Bank warned recently.
Local statistics are unreliable, but President Michel Aoun has said youth unemployment stood at 35 per cent.
There are many young Lebanese like Mark and Roudy among Lebanon’s protesters.
They are highly articulate, educated and desperately want to change their country. They have discovered that together, they can challenge their ageing political elite with creativity and solidarity.
For Mark and Roudy, selling street food is far from a dream job. But the humble saj has become a symbol of their determination to improve their lives, whatever the cost.
“We wear our ties and sell saj. It’s a message: we Lebanese people don’t give up,” said Roudy, who studied computer science but dropped out for financial reasons. His most recent job was as a business development executive in the media sector.
Mark, who used to work as an after-sales representative with an elevator company, studied hospitality management. Both are hooked to social media, where they have several thousand followers.
They are proud of their education. Mark pasted copies of his university certificates on their saj oven.
Last weekend, they called on other unemployed young Lebanese to stick copies of their university certificates on one of the concrete walls that security forces set up to block protesters from reaching the parliament building.
More than 100 people responded. “We call it the 'wall of qualifications',” said Roudy. When they were first erected, the concrete barriers were dubbed “the wall of shame”.
Food famously brings people together. Roudy pointed out that Khandaq Al Ghamiq, a poor area in downtown Beirut whose residents remained fiercely loyal to one of Lebanon's main political parties and hostile to the protesters, had warmed to “thawra saj”.
“A high-profile man from Khandaq came to us and said, ‘we saw you on TV. We support you. You’re one of us’,” Roudy recalled.
Though they may be divided about protests, the Lebanese have all been hit hard by the economic crisis.
A recent study conducted by local research company Infopro found that 220,000 jobs had been lost between mid-October and late January. As banks restrict cash withdrawals, people cannot even fall back on their savings.
Lebanon’s ruling elite has consistently failed to create jobs, providing instead quality universities to educate its youth so that they can work abroad and send back remittances to bolster the economy.
For many young Lebanese, the most obvious choice is to emigrate. But not for Mark and Roudy. “We will never leave. We would pour blood for this country,” said Roudy defiantly.
They are secretive about their future plans. They know that this is the time to capitalise on their small fame.
Whatever happens to their business, now is the moment for people like them. From street art to free food, Lebanese protesters have imagined various ways to show solidarity. And why not make some money along the way if they can?
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Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: From Dh139,000
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About Krews
Founder: Ahmed Al Qubaisi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Founded: January 2019
Number of employees: 10
Sector: Technology/Social media
Funding to date: Estimated $300,000 from Hub71 in-kind support
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The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
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Squad
Ali Kasheif, Salim Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Ali Mabkhout, Omar Abdulrahman, Mohammed Al Attas, Abdullah Ramadan, Zayed Al Ameri (Al Jazira), Mohammed Al Shamsi, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohammed Barghash, Khalil Al Hammadi (Al Wahda), Khalid Essa, Mohammed Shaker, Ahmed Barman, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Al Hassan Saleh, Majid Suroor (Sharjah) Walid Abbas, Ahmed Khalil (Shabab Al Ahli), Tariq Ahmed, Jasim Yaqoub (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Hassan Al Muharami (Baniyas)
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Company%20Profile
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Essentials
The flights
Etihad (etihad.ae) and flydubai (flydubai.com) fly direct to Baku three times a week from Dh1,250 return, including taxes.
The stay
A seven-night “Fundamental Detox” programme at the Chenot Palace (chenotpalace.com/en) costs from €3,000 (Dh13,197) per person, including taxes, accommodation, 3 medical consultations, 2 nutritional consultations, a detox diet, a body composition analysis, a bio-energetic check-up, four Chenot bio-energetic treatments, six Chenot energetic massages, six hydro-aromatherapy treatments, six phyto-mud treatments, six hydro-jet treatments and access to the gym, indoor pool, sauna and steam room. Additional tests and treatments cost extra.
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Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
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Three Penalties
v Panama, Group Stage (Harry Kane)
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Four Corners
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v Tunisia, Group Stage (Kane, via Harry Maguire header, from Kieran Trippier corner)
v Panama, Group Stage (Stones, header, from Trippier corner)
v Sweden, Quarter-Final (Maguire, header, from Young corner)
One Free-Kick
v Panama, Group Stage (Stones, via Jordan Henderson, Kane header, and Raheem Sterling, from Tripper free-kick)
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The biog
From: Ras Al Khaimah
Age: 50
Profession: Electronic engineer, worked with Etisalat for the past 20 years
Hobbies: 'Anything that involves exploration, hunting, fishing, mountaineering, the sea, hiking, scuba diving, and adventure sports'
Favourite quote: 'Life is so simple, enjoy it'
ABU DHABI ORDER OF PLAY
Starting at 10am:
Daria Kasatkina v Qiang Wang
Veronika Kudermetova v Annet Kontaveit (10)
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Donna Vekic (16) v Bernarda Pera
Ekaterina Alexandrova v Zarina Diyas
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Navdeep Suri, India's Ambassador to the UAE
There has been a longstanding need from the Indian community to have a religious premises where they can practise their beliefs. Currently there is a very, very small temple in Bur Dubai and the community has outgrown this. So this will be a major temple and open to all denominations and a place should reflect India’s diversity.
It fits so well into the UAE’s own commitment to tolerance and pluralism and coming in the year of tolerance gives it that extra dimension.
What we will see on April 20 is the foundation ceremony and we expect a pretty broad cross section of the Indian community to be present, both from the UAE and abroad. The Hindu group that is building the temple will have their holiest leader attending – and we expect very senior representation from the leadership of the UAE.
When the designs were taken to the leadership, there were two clear options. There was a New Jersey model with a rectangular structure with the temple recessed inside so it was not too visible from the outside and another was the Neasden temple in London with the spires in its classical shape. And they said: look we said we wanted a temple so it should look like a temple. So this should be a classical style temple in all its glory.
It is beautifully located - 30 minutes outside of Abu Dhabi and barely 45 minutes to Dubai so it serves the needs of both communities.
This is going to be the big temple where I expect people to come from across the country at major festivals and occasions.
It is hugely important – it will take a couple of years to complete given the scale. It is going to be remarkable and will contribute something not just to the landscape in terms of visual architecture but also to the ethos. Here will be a real representation of UAE’s pluralism.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Federer's 19 grand slam titles
Australian Open (5 titles) - 2004 bt Marat Safin; 2006 bt Marcos Baghdatis; 2007 bt Fernando Gonzalez; 2010 bt Andy Murray; 2017 bt Rafael Nadal
French Open (1 title) - 2009 bt Robin Soderling
Wimbledon (8 titles) - 2003 bt Mark Philippoussis; 2004 bt Andy Roddick; 2005 bt Andy Roddick; 2006 bt Rafael Nadal; 2007 bt Rafael Nadal; 2009 bt Andy Roddick; 2012 bt Andy Murray; 2017 bt Marin Cilic
US Open (5 titles) - 2004 bt Lleyton Hewitt; 2005 bt Andre Agassi; 2006 bt Andy Roddick; 2007 bt Novak Djokovic; 2008 bt Andy Murray
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5