Iman Al-Houjairi: The Chemistry of Persistence in Lebanon’s Marginalized Bekaa
By: Tarek Al-Houjairi
From the Bekaa town of Arsal, where the landscape has grown bleak, and where the stories of its people are often reduced to stereotypes tied to security concerns and the surrounding borderlands, emerges the experience of an ambitious young woman, breaking through a narrative drawn with the brush of malice and prejudice, and restoring recognition to the capacities of women long forgotten in marginalized peripheries.
She is Iman Al-Houjairi, who graduated with distinction in chemistry from the Lebanese University, and who chose a difficult yet honest path: working within her field of specialization, without patronage, and without submitting to the logic of exploitation.
After graduating, Iman found herself facing a reality familiar to many graduates from remote regions. Public schools are effectively closed to those without connections or political backing, while private schools offer opportunities tied to meager wages and exhausting working hours that do not reflect one’s academic qualifications. Faced with this reality, Iman refused to comply and chose instead to seek an alternative that would preserve her professional dignity.
From academic chemistry to “everyday chemistry,” Iman launched a small venture producing natural soaps, cosmetic products, and skincare items, drawing on her scientific knowledge and on natural materials available in her local environment. The project was not born of luxury or as a hobby, but as a calculated economic choice aimed at transforming knowledge into a product, and unemployment into an opportunity.
Iman Al-Hujairi: “Specialized training is limited, and loans have become nearly impossible.”
Today, Iman produces a range of natural soaps and cosmetic products distinguished by their quality and carefully formulated compositions, which have gained growing acceptance both within Arsal and beyond. Yet this relative success remains hemmed in by major obstacles, most notably limited funding, the absence of serious support from donor organizations, and a lack of government policies for balanced development, which should prioritize productive initiatives in marginalized areas.
In her interview with Sharika Wa Laken, Iman says that “most support programs are concentrated in major cities, or granted to projects that already have extensive networks of connections, while individual initiatives in peripheral regions are left alone to their fate, struggling on their own to survive.”
She also points to the absence of incentives, noting that “specialized training is scarce, loans are almost unattainable, and marketing poses a daily challenge amid weak infrastructure and the absence of economic incubators.”
Despite all this, Iman does not view her experience as merely a personal story, but as a broader message. Her goal, she says, is “to present a different image of the potential of Lebanese women in rural areas, and to prove that the problem lies not in capabilities, but in access to opportunities.” Based on her experience, she believes that women in marginalized regions are “capable of production and innovation when granted fair opportunities, away from clientelism and exploitation.”
Iman Al-Houjairi’s experience opens the door to a broader discussion about the role of the state and donor organizations in supporting small, productive economies, particularly in areas distant from cities and major population centers, and about the necessity of investing in youth potential rather than pushing it toward migration or despair. She is not so much an exception as she is a model of what Lebanese society could look like if opportunities were distributed fairly, and if development were placed in the service of people, not the other way around.
By: Tarek Al-Houjairi
