Helena Husseini: Like it's Going to be the Last Day
Species Unite
elizabeth novogratz
5.0 • 911 Ratings
🗓️ 18 February 2021
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
"I usually live day by day. I always live every day like it's going to be the last day. We learned that during the war. We don't know when we're going to die. So, you live every day like it's going to be the last day. That's what I do." – Helena Husseini
Helena Husseini is the vice-president of BETA, Beirut Ethical Treatment for Animals. BETA is the first and largest shelter in Lebanon with 850 dogs, many cats, a few horses, and a couple of monkeys.
Helena is also an architect. She has been with BETA since 2006, a few months before the Lebanon War started. As bombs dropped nearby, she drove around in her Jeep saving the injured and abandoned dogs throughout the city.
Since then, she has been rescuing animals during the too many crises and catastrophes that have plagued Lebanon, including the 2019 financial collapse, the riots, COVID 19, and the blast that decimated Beirut.
This conversation is really one that's about resilience, about grit, about what it means to show up every day, even when bombs are dropping, when there's no access to money, when people are starving, and no one knows what tomorrow will look like.
It's a conversation about what it means to choose the meaningful life.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I usually live day by day. I always live every day like it's going to be the last day and we learn that during the war. |
| 0:07.5 | We don't know when you're going to die. So you live every day like it's going to be the last day. That is Species Unite. We have a favor to ask if you like today's |
| 0:29.6 | episode and you have a spare minute. Could you please rate and review Species Unite on Apple Podcast, |
| 0:37.0 | or wherever you listen to Podcasts. |
| 0:39.0 | It really helps people to find the show. |
| 0:48.8 | This conversation is with Elena Assignee. Elena is the vice president of Beata, |
| 0:51.0 | Beirut ethical treatment for animals, and she's an architect. |
| 0:55.0 | Elena's been with Beedah since 2006 rescuing animals all over Lebanon. |
| 1:00.0 | This conversation is really one that's about |
| 1:03.2 | resilience about grit about what it means to show up every day |
| 1:07.6 | even when bombs are dropping when there's no access to money when people are |
| 1:12.1 | starving it's a conversation about what when people are starving. |
| 1:13.6 | It's a conversation about what it means |
| 1:15.6 | to choose the meaningful life. Hi, Halena. It's so good to see you. How are you? Hi, how are you? |
| 1:34.0 | Great, thanks. |
| 1:35.0 | So, Helena, I hear that you have 10 dogs, |
| 1:38.0 | and I know you live in Beirut. |
| 1:40.0 | What is it like having 10 dogs |
| 1:42.0 | in the middle of a city of 2 million people? |
| 1:45.0 | I live in a building. |
| 1:46.3 | I don't live in a home with a backyard. |
| 1:48.8 | I live in a building. |
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