{"id":156647,"date":"2026-06-12T05:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T05:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/156647\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T05:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T05:56:12","slug":"a-nurse-turned-teacher-in-war-torn-lebanon-says-she-is-between-body-bags-at-night-while-teaching-students-in-the-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/156647\/","title":{"rendered":"A nurse-turned-teacher in war-torn Lebanon says she is \u2018between body bags\u2019 at night while teaching students in the day"},"content":{"rendered":"

A nurse-turned-teacher has detailed the realities of life in Lebanon since the escalation of war, describing being \u201cbetween body bags holding lost innocent lives at night and teaching students the very next day\u201d.<\/p>\n

Israa Hassan, 31, who lives in Aramoun near Beirut, said her school has moved lessons online, but she has \u201clost contact\u201d with some of her students and her \u201cmind immediately goes to the worst possibilities\u201d.<\/p>\n

Lebanon became directly involved in the war between Israel, the US and Iran on March 2 when Hezbollah retaliated for the killing of Iran\u2019s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, then Israel launched air attacks across the country and a ground invasion in the south.<\/p>\n

In the aftermath, Israa said her school building was converted into a shelter for people who have fled their homes, and the United Nations estimates more than one million people have been registered as displaced.<\/p>\n

\"Israa<\/p>\n

Israa has more than a decade\u2019s worth of experience in healthcare (Collect\/PA Real Life)<\/p>\n

With her school in Mount Lebanon repurposed, Israa said that the \u201cwarmth of a classroom changed into a cold colourless screen\u201d, but she has tried to \u201ckeep education going in the middle of uncertainty\u201d.<\/p>\n

Israa told PA Real Life: \u201cSuddenly, within one night, I became a responder \u2013 a health worker trying to alleviate pain \u2013 and an educator trying to hold a space for children who were afraid, displaced or emotionally overwhelmed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hard part is keeping a smile and motivation, after spending sleepless nights due to sounds of drones and night strikes.<\/p>\n

\u201cOr telling students during the day that the future holds beautiful things, right after witnessing an injured mum losing her kid the night before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Israa<\/p>\n

Israa has worked as a nurse in Lebanese hospitals (Collect\/PA Real Life)<\/p>\n

As of June 9, 3,666 people have been killed and 11,321 have been injured since the start of the conflict in March, according to the country\u2019s ministry of public health.<\/p>\n

Israa began nursing aged 18 in 2013 and completed further emergency medical technician training to be a medic, working in healthcare for over a decade, including during the Beirut blast in August 2020 and during the Gaza-Israel war from October 7 2023.<\/p>\n

Then in the summer of 2024, Israa said she came across the non-governmental organisation Teach for Lebanon online, which helps ensure that all children in Lebanon have access to education, regardless of socioeconomic background.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cI thought to myself, you know what, why not try something else?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Israa<\/p>\n

She is part of a fellowship with Teach for Lebanon (Collect\/PA Real Life)<\/p>\n

Israa started four weeks of summer training in August 2024 and was accepted for a two-year fellowship, which includes school placement for a minimum of two years in a full-time teaching position.<\/p>\n

Starting in September 2024, Israa had about 40 students in each session, lasting about 45 minutes, teaching English to grades three and four, with students aged nine and 10.<\/p>\n

Israa explained what a typical day looked like. \u201cI\u2019d have the class in teams, so we\u2019d have the cheetahs and the eagles, and they would have to collect points.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I\u2019d be teaching them about who, what, when, where and why questions, showing them videos and asking them to create their own sentences.<\/p>\n

\"Israa<\/p>\n

She is trained as a medic (Collect\/PA Real Life)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d do some games, where we would see who could create the fastest sentence, with prizes and things like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

But that fun stopped on March 2 this year when the war escalated and Israa said everything \u201cshifted drastically\u201d.<\/p>\n

For the first couple of days, Israa said \u201cteaching stopped all over Lebanon\u201d while everyone wanted to make sure their loved ones were safe.<\/p>\n

\"Israa<\/p>\n

Before the war, Israa had classes of 40 students (Collect\/PA Real Life)<\/p>\n

And within the first week, the school was repurposed to become a shelter for displaced families.<\/p>\n

From there, Israa said it took her school a \u201ccouple of weeks to recalibrate\u201d and to see what options they had because they had to factor in challenges like network issues and displacement.<\/p>\n

Israa said: \u201cProfessionally, this looked like a shift from lesson planning and activities, to trying to understand which students were safe, which families are displaced and how to keep education going in the middle of uncertainty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israa said she felt \u201cobligated\u201d to lean on her skills as a medic to help with medical emergencies, alongside local healthcare worker friends.<\/p>\n

\"Israa<\/p>\n

Israa checking a child\u2019s temperature (Collect\/PA Real Life)<\/p>\n

She said she has performed \u201cmedical assistance and procedures to injured civilians\u201d at sites of \u201cnearby strikes\u201d, and has helped provide devices like generators or walking assistance tools like canes and wheelchairs.<\/p>\n

Israa said: \u201cI remember treating people who came out of rubble, while others arrived exhausted, frightened and displaced.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes what they needed most was not only medical care, but reassurance that someone was there to help.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are always expected to be calm and composed, but deep down I was worried about my family and community.<\/p>\n

\"Israa<\/p>\n

She believes children need education even more during conflict (Collect\/PA Real Life)<\/p>\n

\u201cSelf-care is really important, in order for you to help out others.\u201d<\/p>\n

When her school decided to resume lessons online within two weeks of the war, Israa continued to offer medical assistance at night.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cNever have I thought that I\u2019ll be between body bags holding lost innocent lives at night, and teaching students the very next day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was difficult at first creating that balance between what\u2019s going on and what you\u2019re seeing at night, with difficult scenes sometimes, and then going back to teach.<\/p>\n

\"Israa<\/p>\n

Israa has lost contact with some of her students (Collect\/PA Real Life)<\/p>\n

\u201cYou didn\u2019t want to spread your own emotions and fears into your students because they are already going through a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Immediately after resuming online lessons, Israa said the dropout was \u201cdrastic\u201d and there are students she still has not heard from since before the war.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cI haven\u2019t received any confirmation that I lost a student, but I have had confirmation that some of my students unfortunately got displaced and continue to live in shelters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israa said a typical day of teaching now involves regularly checking in with her students on their mental health and \u201ctelling them each and every day how proud\u201d she is and how much she believes they are \u201ctrying as much as they can\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Israa<\/p>\n

She wants to \u2018keep education going in the middle of uncertainty\u2019 (Collect\/PA Real Life)<\/p>\n

She is touched by their resilience, citing one displaced boy in particular who she said \u201ckeeps insisting that he wants to learn\u201d.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cI had students who attended lessons despite having lost their normal routines completely.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more tragedies I saw, the more I believed that even during war, children do not stop needing education, routine and hope.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs teachers, our role is to keep that connection alive, even in the most difficult circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information about Teach for Lebanon, visit its website here: https:\/\/teachforlebanon.org\/Home\/S_Index<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A nurse-turned-teacher has detailed the realities of life in Lebanon since the escalation of war, describing being \u201cbetween…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[32],"tags":[49722,93,4181,2394,9204],"class_list":["post-156647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lebanon","tag-israa-hassan","tag-lebanon","tag-mount-lebanon","tag-pa","tag-students"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116735599414077454","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}