NAFDA NAFDA 10 WINTER/SPRING 2022
The innovative coalition ‘deep-cleaning’ Lebanon’s education system.
“Nafda - It means, ‘spring cleaning!’” Maria Hibri ‘82 says, animated, as she begins talking about the new education initiative that is empowering school communities to implement innovative, participatory approaches to education in Lebanon.
I initially met Ms. Hibri to discuss her own life and career. As the co-founder and designer of Bokja, an artisanal textile and design studio who’s fresh and bright take on traditional methods of embroidery has garnered worldwide fame, she is a grande dame of the Lebanese design scene. Though Hibri kindly spoke about Bokja’s founding and its many accomplishments in the 20 years since, it soon became clear that this was not really the story she wanted to tell. “What I really want to talk about is Nafda. Bokja, you can Google it. The story is there,” she states bluntly. This is true - there are plenty of articles detailing the studio’s story and successes over two decades. “I feel I owe it to myself to be involved in things that really matter to me.” Hibri reflects.
Maria Hibri
To be clear, Ms. Hibri has not been on the sidelines for the past 20 years. She has long been involved in community organizing and is an outspoken advocate for a number of social and political causes. Most of Bokja’s collections are, for her, a vehicle to “speak her truth.” Carefully woven into the aesthetically stunning textiles, pillows, and robes, Hibri states, are “our aspirations, our anger, our questioning of things.” The design duo has created pieces that take a stand on the extinction of bees. They wrapped tires in fabric to protest political frustration in lieu of the usual burning of tires
which causes pollution. During the 2011 Arab Uprisings, they worked with Bokja’s artisans, who are from all over the Arab world, to create two tapestries, upon which each craftsman expressed their story and views. The tapestries are now on permanent display at The Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris. Post-port explosion, they turned their studio into an ER for damaged furniture, mending upholstery tears with a red thread, tending to the city’s wounds. Nafda, however, is cut from a different cloth. It began from the many virtual Thawra WhatsApp groups that Hibri was a part of during lockdown. She was exhausted and frustrated that the uprising’s momentum was dwindling. “It seemed this was as far as we could go as Lebanese, that there was no united voice, or bigger picture” she recalls. Enter Nadim Matta ‘76, a veteran of the development world who possessed both the will and the way to tackle some of the country’s toughest problems. Maria (re)connected with her fellow IC graduate on one of these many Zoom calls - one of the few other people she met who was thinking critically about how to take action. Matta has been based in the US for a number of years, where his organization, the Rapid Results Institute (RRI) is headquartered. Building on his years of experience with Save the Children, USAID in Lebanon, and in private sector social impact consulting, RRI is a different way to think about development.
