Fadel Aljebali: building ourselves back up and rebuilding Libya
Media and architecture enthusiast, Fadel Aljebali, 38, is producing a series of videos aimed at encouraging young Libyans to take up manual trades.
Profile by Bérengère Merlot.
As Fadel Aljebali's 3 minute 20 second pilot episode says Nurturing spirits is the key to building nations. And this tells us everything we need to know about the passion driving this multi-talented young man. The video opens with gripping aerial views of a vibrant Libya.
This is followed by images of the severe damage caused by Storm Daniel in the city of Derna in the north-east of the country in September 2023.
Fadel is a gifted computer developer, who went on to become an engineer and then an architect. He founded his first construction company in 2014 in his home city of Tobruk, a port city on Libya's east coast. In 2017, he founded the company Al Fakher ("source of pride") in the city, which specialises in construction and real estate. Ibrahim Gomha, 33, a close friend of Fadel who has been working with him for nine years, describes him as someone who has a fundamental love of other people, great ambitions and heaps of energy.
As part of his Al Fakher company, Fadel founded the private radio station Dar Al-Salam, which broadcasts on 88.5 FM, fulfilling a passion and a dream that he has had since working as a sound manager and editor for the government radio station "Radio Tobrouk" in 2012-2013. Dar Al-Salam is the only private radio station in Tobruk. By broadcasting programmes that are of use to the community and fact-checked information, it aims to promote peace by educating citizens following years of instability. Fadel brings people together.
I remember when we were kids, Fadel took my hand one day and said: 'I'm going to become president', recalls his little brother, Dewa Aljebali, 35, with a smile.
Anything is possible
For Fadel, a tall, dark-haired young man with a warm voice, the country's future belongs to the young people, who must take charge. The country is going through a phase of reconstruction. We are experiencing an urban revival in the wake of the war and there are many job opportunities in this area, he explains. The idea for the series arose after meeting tradespeople from Syria, Morocco, Sudan and Egypt who had emigrated to Libya.
In addition to promoting manual trades, the aim is to foster a generation that is conscious and engaged and that takes charge of its future and the future of the country. In 2019, I started learning how to lay gypsum boards (Editor's note: rock used to make plaster). I want to master different techniques and one day open my own company, says Al Fakher employee Fares Ismail, 24, in the pilot episode.
Anything is possible. Change your outlook on life and live peacefully, are the closing words of the video, entitled Ensemble pour reconstruire la Libye ("Working together to rebuild Libya"), created for Intajat Jadida. Al Fakher will soon be moving to larger premises, which will allow it to also incorporate a training centre for media professionals.
A new building aimed at continuing to rebuild Libya.