Jessica Kahawaty is an Australian model of Lebanese origins. Although she was born in Sydney, Australia, she remains attached and loyal to her Lebanese roots and is fighting for Lebanon ever since the onset of the Revolution.
For those who don’t know her, here’s a brief introduction:
Holder of a law and business finance degree, Kahawaty is a former TV host and a beauty pageant titleholder, known also as a philanthropist.
She represented Lebanon at the Miss International 2008 where she made it among the top 12 semi-finalists. She competed in Miss Lebanon 2010, where she claimed second runner-up and third runner-up respectively.
She became Miss World Australia in 2012, representing Australia at Miss World that same year.
These are all just a speck of Jessica Kahawaty’s accomplishments in her homeland and abroad.
Apart from her standing up for her homeland and making the Lebanese proud during the best of times, she is also supporting Lebanon through the tough times.
Now more than ever, with the pandemic and the economic crisis taking a toll on Lebanon and its citizens, Jessica Kahawaty has stepped up in an attempt to make a difference.
Raising her voice as a public figure, she is campaigning for support, drawing the world’s attention to Lebanon’s painful issues on Instagram, and urging people to help with donations.
She recently shared a series of stories on her Instagram, explaining the reality of the situation in Lebanon.
The stories also included a brief listing of reasons behind the 17 October revolution and an explanation of the deterioration of the Lebanese Lira.
The story of the Lebanese man who took his life leaving a tragic note behind was also shared by the model as an example of the Lebanese people’s tough living conditions.
The Instagram stories also take the health crisis into consideration as well as the consequences that vulnerable communities like refugees and domestic workers in Lebanon have to suffer.
Kahawaty is not collecting the donations herself nor conducting fundraising. She provided in her post directions on how to help and donate directly, along with contacts and/or sites of Lebanese NGOs.
The model also shared photographs from a previous photoshoot done by Lebanese photographers, stylists, and makeup artists.
She captioned the pictures with the following text: “It pains me that this shoot was done by one of the most talented teams of Lebanese creatives, whose dreams are being shattered day-by-day along with the rest of the country due to the careless behavior of the leaders.”
“Lebanon is known to produce such incredible talent, especially in the fashion industry,” Kahawaty wrote. “It devastated me knowing that as soon as they somewhat had their feet on the ground, something close to what our parents experienced may happen again.”
“From hyperinflation to the imminent risk of a civil war, once again the country and people are taken back many steps and many generations.”
Jessica Kahawaty previously supported Lebanon through a lot of painful incidents before the economic crisis, like when wildfires devastated regions of Lebanon last year.