Bakri prays on May 26, 2026, in the Shehim cemetery in Chouf, where several members of the Sudanese community in Lebanon are buried. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L'Orient-Le Jour)
A small woman bends over her broom, scrubbing gray tiles with generous amounts of water. No matter how hard she scrubs, the smell of death lingers, turning her stomach.At the morgue of Rafik Hariri Hospital, employee Taysir Jaber grumbles as he steps over a puddle and opens a mortuary drawer at Tima Ahmad's request. "Is she Ethiopian?" asks the lanky man, his gaze vacant.Without waiting for an answer, he pulls out a body wrapped in a white bag and unzips it. A bruised face appears. Dust still clings to her braided hair. "I have photos too," he says.The young Ethiopian woman closes her eyes and asks him to zip the bag shut.On her phone, she studies a photograph of her compatriot's identity card. The body resembles her, but she needs to be sure. She insists.Eventually, the employee pulls out a small spiral...
A small woman bends over her broom, scrubbing gray tiles with generous amounts of water. No matter how hard she scrubs, the smell of death lingers, turning her stomach.At the morgue of Rafik Hariri Hospital, employee Taysir Jaber grumbles as he steps over a puddle and opens a mortuary drawer at Tima Ahmad's request. "Is she Ethiopian?" asks the lanky man, his gaze vacant.Without waiting for an answer, he pulls out a body wrapped in a white bag and unzips it. A bruised face appears. Dust still clings to her braided hair. "I have photos too," he says.The young Ethiopian woman closes her eyes and asks him to zip the bag shut.On her phone, she studies a photograph of her compatriot's identity card. The body resembles her, but she needs to be sure. She insists.Eventually, the employee pulls out a small spiral...
