Beirut blast: The Girl Scout who saved a stranger’s life

Marina El Khawand was an 18-year-old student in Lebanon when an explosion at Beirut’s port devastated the city in 2020. A fire had triggered the detonation of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that had been stored unsafely in a warehouse. Marina – part of the Lebanese Girl Guides Association – volunteered to help people affected by the disaster. She ended up a neighbourhood badly hit by the blast, where she found an elderly woman in the ruins of her apartment, barely conscious and struggling to breathe.

Marina recognised the medical inhaler in the woman’s hands – it was the same one her own mother relied on for her asthma. She set out on a mission to find this medication and save this unknown woman’s life, setting off a sequence of events that would take Marina – and her proud mum – all the way to the United Nations. Marina has now created Medonations, an NGO connecting people across Lebanon with life-saving medicine. She was again inspired by her mother whose long-time ambition to be a doctor was disrupted by war, so Marina is now rewriting those hopes for them both.

Presenter: Asya Fouks

Producer: Elena Angelides

Get in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707

(Photo: Two images of Marina El Khawand are laid side by side. In the first, she wears a white lab coat and holds a tablet device. In the second image, Marina wears her Girl Scout uniform, and is sitting down at a desk, with a scenic outdoor background behind her. Credit: Marina El Khawand)