Ketob b Ketob
Dana El Khoury, Contributor
December 12th, 2020
The events that Lebanon had to endure during the past year have been detrimental. From the protests, to the pandemic, to the economic deterioration, and to the Beirut port blast, the country has undergone unprecedented challenges. Yet, just like a phoenix, the Lebanese people have risen more resilient and hopeful following these calamities. Specifically, Zeinab Elbatoul Sbaiti has acted as a beacon of hope with her initiative, Ketob B Ketob, and her unwavering drive to save Lebanon symbolizes the patriotic spirit that is found in the heart of every Lebanese.
The Phoenix Daily got in touch with founder of Ketob B Ketob, Zeinab Elbatoul Sbaiti, who answered a series of questions regarding this initiative. When asked about how she came up with the initiative, Zeinab explained that the Lebanese were preoccupied with providing people with food and clothes, or with handling the debris. Zeinab however, decided to take a different approach, “What about books and school supplies, I thought? Their prices have skyrocketed in light of currency devaluation and a deteriorating economic situation and I have seen first-hand the suffering of many parents and their incapability of purchasing their children's books and stationery.” Zeinab describes this revelation as her “eureka moment”, and it prompted her to begin Ketob B Ketob, which is a non-profit “digital platform and social initiative that aims to unite students and their parents across Lebanon to facilitate books donations and trading”. This was made possible after Zeinab reached out to students and graduates all over Lebanon to embark on her mission. She even calls upon any individual who shares her vision to join the Ketob B Ketob family.
The Phoenix Daily was in interested in learning about how Ketob B Ketob operates, especially amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Zeinab describes the process as “simple and organized thanks to the logistics and social media team of Ketob B Ketob.” She explains that there are two options to donators. The first is to “post the books’ pictures on our Facebook Group along with their contact details. The social media team then reposts this on our Instagram page to ensure even further outreach. Accordingly, whoever is interested and needs these books can then contact this person and have things planned to get them.” The second method is to “contact the Ketob B Ketob team and we will have someone from the logistics team go get them to put them in our location. We then arrange the books according to their class level, add a book ID, and then add the books to our database – which is shared with schools and students.”
When asked about the steps Zeinab and her team have followed to make this page successful, Zeinab narrowed it down to one factor, “collective good intentions.” She credits, “Every member of the Ketob B Ketob family across all teams (social media team, logistics, data entry, sponsorship team, and schools relations team), as they have been giving a parts of them for the initiative to grow. We reached out to schools and utilized our network and the effect of social media for people to know of us and trust us.” Zeinab also explains to The Phoenix Daily the platforms which have endorsed the initiative thus far, including interviews conducted with Aljadeed TV and Tele Liban. She also adds, “we also had endorsements from influencers and public figures including, but not limited to, Joumana Hadad, Patrick Daoud, Paula Nawfal, Polleksandra, and we were hosted by The Daily Question to speak more about Ketob B Ketob. We always aspire for more exposure to further expand our outreach.” On another note, Zeinab was asked about the challenges faced by Ketob B Ketob, ranging from legal, to logistical, to technical, and she responded by beginning with “our journey has been anything but hurdle free to be honest. Our challenges are multifaceted, but we are committed to being not just problem solvers but innovators at core.” As she delves into further details, Zeinab discusses challenges including finding a place to store books and supplies, delivering books and stationaries from doners to recipients, among others. She concludes the interview by describing her aspirations for Ketob B Ketob initiative, “becoming rather more organized and adept once we have people trust us more and thus support us more.” As Zeinab tackled this point, she was also asked about how far ahead she can picture the future of her initiative lasting, to which she responds that the team is rooting for Ketob B Ketob’s growth and is excited for this platform to be the initial reference for students across Lebanon for books and stationary supplies.
On a more personal note, Zeinab was asked about what inspired her to commit to this initiative. As she discussed the value she places on education, she also referred to her personal experience. “I have seen my parents sacrifice so much for me and my siblings to get quality education,” she says, before discussing the key role of education in having “a decent living or making a change in one's community.” She describes the act of students’ withdrawal from school or the compromising of their experience as a result of an incapability of affording school books or materials as a “loss for life.” Moreover, the founder of Ketob B Ketob was asked about the impact of her work on the people giving and receiving the books, to which she replied by discussing the overall achievement of this initiative “We have distributed so far more than 100 school books and had almost 60 direct beneficiaries. We are preparing to distribute stationary to our many of associated members soon. We have partnered with 32 schools across Lebanon and have 2.8K member using our Facebook group.” Lastly, the final question posed to Zeinab was how her personal life was altered following foundering Ketob B Ketob. She discusses the hectic environment she has been learning to adapt to, but the benefits she has acquired such as the “know-hows” of the educational status of the country. Furthermore, she discussed the massive number of people she had the privilege of meeting, among which were volunteers, stakeholders, students and parents. Zeinab wraps up her response by saying, “All in all, it feels good to make this "pale blue" dot a bit less pale and a lot more vibrant.”
It is the spirit of people like Zeinab Elbatoul Sbaiti that has held the crumbling country together at a time where hope feels like a superficial notion. It is through the kind hearts of such Lebanese people that Lebanon keeps rising like a phoenix after being beaten down over and over again.
To get in touch with Ketob B Ketob, you can contact them though:
https://www.instagram.com/ketobbketob/
https://www.facebook.com/ketobbketob/