In Marjeyoun, the cyclamen is called Skukaa and when I was still an infant, my mother, Raifa, began calling me ‘Em Skukaa’ (Mother of Cyclamen) because I was so drawn to the cyclamen plants around our home. One of my family’s fondest memories of me as an infant was from when I had just begun to walk and, as though driven by a compulsion within my soul, I would toddle my way over to collect cyclamen flowers from the fields and woods surrounding our home.
I would then hold these flowers like a baby, with great care and adoration. Unlike most toddlers, I wasn’t interested in chocolates, sweets, treats, dolls or toys—it was the cyclamen that made my heart content.
