Layla and I freezing in Evian, France

Layla dressing me up!

            The story of Layla, Loubna and Little Loubna 

I first met Layla and Loubna, two Libyan sisters through their new friend "Little" Loubna at a refugee centre in Switzerland.

I had never met anyone from Libya and these three women soon became my best friends! Layla and Loubna fled Libya in the height of the revolution. They had to leave their homes, their friends, their careers, EVERYTHING! With their family they fled to a refugee camp and lived for six months in the Tunisian desert never knowing when they would leave. In incredibly cramped tents, they told me stories of how they saw people light each other on fire, daily fights in the camp and their desperation, depression and finally their triumph over feeling that all had been lost. 

They told of times when they would find scorpions in their tent and would have to rise above the feeling that their whole life had been destroyed to look for the good. Their great faith in their Muslim faith held them in good stead. I LOVED hanging out with these women. On some Friday nights, we would all drive over to France (where we could all afford to buy groceries) and we would laugh all the way there and back. They shared with us their thoughts, their wish to return to Libya and how difficult they found their new life in Switzerland. The good that came out of this situation was that Loubna met a man in Switzerland who became her husband and Layla found a good place to live after much searching. They stayed at our apartment whenever we went on holidays and my fondest memories of us all is our laughing all together about things we found difficult. To me, they will always be my sisters.

Little Loubna had a different story. Her family fled Libya in the height of the revolution and escaped by way of boat. The people who organized the boat were thieves. Aggressive, drunk and corrupt they treated all of the people fleeing with contempt and violence. Half way across the ocean, the boat broke down and all of the people onboard felt they were going to face sure death. Some people were considering jumping overboard preferring to drown by choice before others talked them out of it. The boat started again, turned back and they had to board another boat. There was no food or water on the boat and no opportunity to use a toilet for FOUR days. Little Loubna's family also left everything they had behind. Younger than my other friends, she had not finished school and is now enrolled in a Swiss school. Little Loubna lived with Rob and I for a little while and she came to school with me and along with Layla and Loubna, told their stories to my students. 

Before we left Switzerland, these beautiful friends gave us a cherished photo frame with photos of us all on our trips to Evian on a minus 20 day. I miss them greatly, they are women of substance who continue to inspire me and taught me never to take anything for granted and certainly that I will never have any reason in my life to complain about anything!