Photo: Vatican Media
Juliana Sfeir is in charge of the Lebanon Studios of SAT-7’s, public engagement and has helped create some of the channel’s biggest successes. She has previously won the Pauline Jaricot Award, which is given to a woman who has done something special for society’s vulnerable groups. On January 24, she represented SAT-7 at the Vatican’s World Communication Day.
On the occasion of International Women’s Day, we have arranged for Juliana Sfeir to talk about hope, faith and the fight for equal rights for all.
God is a part of my daily life
“For me, God is part of my daily life. My faith inspires me in my work, it inspires me to take action and to go out and meet people where they are,” Juliana Sfeir says over a Zoom link from Lebanon. The connection is unstable, and she struggles to plug a new internet cable into the computer. “We have some lousy internet providers,” she laughs. Even though she sometimes struggles with the internet connection, there is no doubt that Juliana Sfeir loves her job and her workplace.
She is the Public Engagement Manager at the Lebanon branch of SAT-7, a Christian media ministry, where she has worked in various roles since the early 2000s. A workplace that she dreamed of as a young woman. “I have always wanted to use my faith to help others and create better conditions. I can do that at SAT-7,” she says, and elaborates that for her, faith is not a matter of going to church or reading the Bible word for word. It’s about helping those she meets on her way.
“I pray in the car on the way to work, when I wash my hair, or when I go for a walk. For me, it’s about finding inspiration for my work and finding the strength to help others and lift them.”
The fight for equal rights and open dialogue
Juliana Sfeir has done it all – she has a Masters degree in media and communication from Leeds University. She has made documentaries, radio programs, commercials and even produced music videos, but she has always had a dream of doing more with her work. She got the opportunity to do so when she was offered a place on the team at SAT-7 more than twenty years ago. Since then, she has used her work to create dialogue and unity across religion, culture and gender, including as the leader of the project Lebanon, Our Story, which is supported by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, CKU and the Bible Society.
“Lebanon is characterized by diversity, but also by deep political and social divisions. Storytelling plays an important role in building bridges and creating cohesion across religious groups,” says Juliana Sfeir, emphasizing the importance of a project like Lebanon, Our Story. The project brought together young people from all over Lebanon for a series of workshops, where they spent 3 days together while working to tell their stories about bullying, violence and loneliness.
“I was particularly touched by the young people who opened up as soon as they were taken out of their usual surroundings. It was the young women who led the way and shared stories of shame, bullying and loneliness,” says Juliana, adding “One young woman in particular made an impression on me. A Syrian refugee who opened up and talked about her experience with bullying and loneliness. I could feel how she grew and built friendships through the project. It is not easy to be accepted when you come with a different religion and background than the people who are around you. But if you tell your story and listen to other people’s stories, you open up for dialogue and understanding,” says Juliana Sfeir.
And it is precisely the dialogue and hope that Juliana Sfeir emphasizes again and again. For her, these two things are crucial to creating better conditions and frameworks for vulnerable people, both in Lebanon and the rest of the world. “I have just visited the Vatican and in my speech I emphasized on hope. You hear me talk about hope all the time. It’s good to understand where you come from and the challenges you’ve been through. But it’s even more important to tell stories of hope and show that we can build relationships through hope and through truth,” she says.
Women’s voices must be heard
Juliana Sfeir’s work is rarely just about only one struggle. It is often about young people’s rights, women’s voices in society, a better life for people with disabilities and a greater understanding between religions. Still, she has a special relationship with the women’s struggle.
“That was one of the first things I worked with at SAT-7,” she says and continues: “I find that women in the MENA region, including Lebanon, are finding their voices to a greater extent. In SAT-7, we empower women and girls to understand their identity and worth through God and encourage them to use their voices – both privately and in public.” And if women’s voices are to continue to grow in Lebanon and the rest of the region, efforts need to be targeted at them, Juliana Sfir believes.
“There are many programs that promote fundamental gender equality in the Middle East and North Africa. But in SAT-7 we try to target the work. Among other things, through our Gender Equality & Freedom project. Where we fight for women’s right to rethink their faith and reach their own beliefs, while at the same time acknowledging the enormous challenges that women in the region face when exercising their freedom of religion or belief,” she says and concludes “Happy International Women’s Day to all the women of the world.”
The project Lebanon, Our Story became both a book and five short films that tell the young people’s stories in their own words. The book can be read here: Lebanon-Our-Story-Book-English.pdf
This article was first published in Danish in the newspaper Udfordringen.
