The civil war that broke out in Lebanon, killing over 200 thousand people, lasted from 1975 till 1990. As a result, hundreds of thousands left the country in search of a better life.

 

Today, around 14 million Lebanese expats are scattered around the globe. And it comes as no surprise that some were looking to take a piece of home with them on their journey towards a better future.

 

Camille Nimr Chamoun was Lebanon’s president from 1952 until 1958 and his reign as one of the country’s main Christian leaders spanned over most of the civil war.

 

Many don’t know that during his presidential years, Chamoun had invited the mayors of several towns in the US to attend a gathering at the presidential palace.

 

Those towns had one thing in common: they were all named ‘Lebanon’.

 

In 2016, Fadi Bou Karam, a Lebanese photographer, embarked on a journey to visit 50 US towns named Lebanon.

 

In an interview with MTV Website, Bou Karam opened up about this trip and what he’s looking to take back from this 5-month journey.

 

Bou Karam is a street photographer. His work, posted here, is aimed towards documenting society itself through candid shots of people around the country.

 

“I started taking photography seriously in 2012,” Bou Karam says, noting that before quitting his job to embark on his journey to the US, he worked in an investment bank then as a consultant for a service-oriented firm.

 

Fadi was living in San Francisco when he found out through Google Maps, that his country was not the only Lebanon out there.

 

“I was searching for Lebanon on Google Maps, and Lebanons just started popping out. So I went ahead with a search through an online database of US cities and began looking for all the Lebanons in the US.”

 

Fadi Found over 50 Lebanons and there could be many more still to locate.

 

Bou Karam intends to document his trip through photographs and blog posts which he plans to turn into a book later on.

 

It is worth noting that Fadi is funding this trip thanks to savings he amassed during his working days and is currently looking for sponsors that could help finance his journey.

 

It’s quite striking that many US nationals and Lebanese expats have taken an interest in Bou Karam’s plans and have offered to give him tours in their respective towns and even house him throughout his stay in the US.

 

“I’ve made a list of all the people who’ve offered to help me out and will be contacting them once I arrive into the “Lebanon” they live in.”

Fadi says there is no particular message he’s looking to send through this project. He says he is only looking to see how someone could say “I am from Lebanon” without having to carry the awful burden of having lived through a war or in a bomb shelter.

 

He does admit a certain fear as he acknowledges this trip as one of the riskiest moves he’s made.

 

“I just had to do it. I never thought I would but I realized there is more to life than work and life truly is too short.”

 

You can keep up with Fadi’s journey on LebanonUSA.com