University expertise helps reconstruct and recover a city -- and citizens' dignity

The day after the August port explosion in Beirut, dozens of AUB faculty and students spontaneously visited the damaged region of Beirut to see how they could help the citizens in need to rebuild structures, lives, and entire communities. Khaddit Beirut was born as a platform that brings together multi-discipline expertise from AUB and other universities in housing, health care, small businesses, and education, to recover and reconstruct urban lives and communities. Chemistry professor Najat Saliba, co-founder and co-director of Khaddit Beirut, explains how they go about breaking entrenched networks of corruption and clientelism, to restore trust among citizens, experts, and even some honest officials.