From Balallan to Beirut… global traveller Janet plans documentaries on ‘interesting places’​​​​​​​

It’s not the most obvious holiday destination with conflict escalating in the Middle East, but for one Lewis woman, Beirut was the place to be this month. While the Foreign Office was advising people to leave Lebanon while they still could… Janet MacDonald was flying in.

Her intention was to spend three months based in the city and do some filming for a pilot for a mini documentary or podcast as part of a series looking at different “interesting places” around the globe and the everyday lives of the people who live there.

Following Israel’s strike on Beirut city centre on Thursday night, though, which killed 22, Janet is making plans to bring forward her return flight out to Istanbul and leave in the next few days.

Speaking to the Gazette, she said: “It was about 2km away and, yes, for the first time I felt and heard it. All the oxygen goes out of the air and the doors and windows in the cafe rattled. Almost immediately the Red Cross ambulances started screaming down the road. They are also blocking the communications. WhatsApp was not working on the network in the immediate aftermath and today I can’t do voice recordings on WhatsApp.”

She explained that “an airstrike in the city centre, from fighter jets rather than missile drones, was one of my red lines for leaving. It means that I would not be safe exploring the city and I don’t want to be here and restricted to the Christian quarters.

“There have been a number of targeted strikes in the city centre before. In those a missile drone takes out a specific apartment and it is contained. Unacceptable but contained. I slept through one of those, nearby, the first night I was here. This was a bomb dropped from fighter jets that levelled at least one high rise building. It’s quite a step up.”

A former television director, Janet is planning a series of long-form magazine articles to accompany her films, and will also be blogging about her experiences on the Medium platform. She hopes to offer a fresh perspective to the news received through the mainstream media.

Janet, who hails from Balallan originally, lived in New Zealand for 22 years before returning to Lewis a few years ago. She first visited Beirut this year, while passing through on a trip to Syria, instantly fell in love with the place, and started making plans to return.

Undeterred by the instability in the region but needing to make a considered decision, Janet sought advice from friends who were choosing to be there and returned on October 3. She has been staying in the central suburb Gemmayzeh and also volunteering with an aid organisation.

Janet said: “I have got some experience of going to countries which have got some civil unrest. My first job ever I went to Belfast as a 21-year-old researcher, at the height of the Troubles."

She added:“Once I had exited my parental responsibilities, I wanted to travel and I wanted to get out and actually see the world properly. I wanted to go to lots of interesting and slightly unusual countries as a solo female traveller, and actually get under their skin a bit. I find when you travel on your own, it’s really interesting. People are open and honest to you and you have much more informative experiences when you travel on your own.”

She recalled visiting Iraq last year as part of a small group with a tour company that originally started out as guides for journalists and fixers. During that, she met another tour guide who invited her on an eight-day tour to Syria in April this year. The meeting point for that trip was Beirut as they had to use the land border to cross in, flights being impossible, and that got her hooked.

“I walked around and I just loved the vibe of the place. It has this amazing history.”

Janet, who mainly works in market research for the public sector, is planning to make 10 mini documentaries in her series, showcasing a different country each time and “looking at the history and the geopolitical influences that have got them to where they are now, but also through the eyes of the people who lives there”.

To follow Janet’s blog visit: https://medium.com/@janet_40220/

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