ستريدا جعجع

Personal Information:
Date of Birth : May 31, 1967
Marital Status: Married to Dr Samir Geagea
Education: B. A. in Political Science, the Lebanese American University, LAU, 1994.
Languages: Fluent Arabic, French, English
Hobbies : Reading, sports, music
Parliamentary Career :
2005-2009 – Member of the Lebanese Parliament for the first electoral district of Bsharreh – ‘Akkar – Dinnyieh in the North
2009- present – Member of the Lebanese Parliament for the electoral District of Bsharreh
Party Membership : Lebanese Forces
Parliamentary Bloc : Lebanese Forces
Organizational Membership : The Maronite League

Biography :

1 – The Lebanese Forces Party was disbanded in 1994 and her husband Dr Samir Geagea was unjustly imprisoned, while the Syrian hegemony over Lebanon dealt the party a deadly blow.
– However, Mrs. Geagea’s challenge of that reality ushered in a period of struggle and resistance in the face of political intimidation, arrests, and prosecutions. She fought along with party fellows for eleven years until the the Syrian forces withdrew from Lebanon, her husband was released from prison and Lebanon regained its freedom.
– She challenged all parties that tried to distort the history and image of the Lebanese Forces. She succeeded in maintaining its unity and its historical line for which thousands of martyrs sacrificed their lives in order to preserve Lebanon’s independence and freedom.
– She joined the Qornet Shehwan Gathering that operated under the sponsorship of the Maronite patriarch and in which The Lebanese Forces played a prominent role.
– As a leading LF figure, Geagea participated in elections involving unions, student bodies, municipalities, and other cultural associations. The impressive results she achieved prove that the LF is still an active and efficient force in the Lebanese political equation despite the ban imposed on it for years.
– She joined the Bristol Gathering that became later the March 14 Movement, the spearhead of the second independence struggle of 2005. Mrs. Geagea led the party in the 2005 parliamentary elections, which resulted in the rise of an LF six-member bloc.

2 – MP Geagea devotes great time and effort to the advancement of her constituency that suffers from deprivation due to the lack of government development projects between independence and 2005. These conditions were exacerbated by Syrian occupation targeting a large number of the Lebanese Forces followers in Bsharreh and by the fact that its leader Dr Samir Geagea is also a native of the area.

– She founded:
* Cedars International Festival committee : with registration number 81/AD (9 March 2006) The Cedars International Festival, held since 1963, is a non-profit organization with a vision to revive its festivals and to promote it to both artistic and touristic international level in a way that reflects its rich history, cultural and emblematic value of the “cedars Of God Forest”. CIF mission is to increase tourism in the district of Bsharreh and reflect the positive image of what symbolic and deep-rooted traditions this region holds in the history of Lebanon. A vast rebuilding of the infrastructure of this area began in 2005 by Member of Parliament and president of the Cedars International Festival Mrs. Sethrida Geagea. These accomplishments rendered it possible to finally revive these festivals in the summer of 2015 and to restore the former glory of the Cedar Forest to its artistic and touristic position in Lebanon.
* Cedar’s Mountain Foundation, a non-profit organization founded on June, 2007 and registered by the Lebanese Ministry of Interior on August 14, 2007; the registration number is 193/AD. CMF mission is to make a positive difference in individual lives. It seeks to improve the life quality of mountains inhabitants and countrymen. It invests in the potential of individuals to enhance cooperation between its members to unify their efforts in serving and promoting the greater Bsharreh region and its district at different levels: economic, social, agricultural, education, environment as well as at sustainable development; to improve the methods that may support the district’s community and the region and provide the necessary procedures that will improve the economy and social standing; to help advance and improve the region and its growth in all aspects; to enhance cooperation and coordination between governmental entities and associations aiming similarly; to corporate to achieve a sustainable visible socio-economic development; to create steady cooperation with governmental and non-governmental organizations and all other civil communities working in the region and in Lebanon.
* Maraya el jobba: a quarterly magazine created in 2010, the registration number is 785/2010. It communicates all subjects of the caza of Bsharreh objectively and deals with the developmental, social and cultural areas of the caza. It has 26 issues until today and each time, 3500 issues are distributed for free for all caza inhabitants. Maraya el jobba is the historical memory of the caza of Bsharreh.

– She helped in founding
* The « Comité de Gestion de la Vallée de Kadisha (Vallée Sainte) », a non-profitable organization, it is registered under the number 2317 (2 November 2016) and sponsored by the Maronite Patriarchate. It aims to preserve the cultural and natural heritage of Wadi Qadisha, with its various components, considering that the valley is listed on the World Heritage List; to contribute to the development of a spiritual, pastoral and social development plan for the region, taking into account the World Heritage Convention; to promote cooperation, at the local, regional and international levels, between the various bodies, both official and non-governmental; to contribute to the development of the guiding plan of the valley in a way that preserves its heritage and sustainable development and embracing all its components.
* Chance for life is registered under the number 1508 (15 February 2014). Its objectives are prevention of drugs; prevention of social deviations; awareness on modern education; conducting training courses in schools and training courses for parents; establishment of social activities within the framework of the objectives of the Association.
– Mrs. Geagea seeks to promote socio-economic development through sustainable community development initiatives targeting Food Security, Economic Development, Primary Health, Basic Education, Tourism evolution and Environment protection in order to encourage the local inhabitants to remain in the area in an attempt to prevent migration or emigration.
3 – Enhancing the status of Lebanese women represents another cause for which MP Geagea fights with a view to improving their participation in public life, society, politics, media, education, economy or others. For her, Lebanese laws discriminating between men and women must be revised. To this end, she brought a bill before Parliament aiming to abolish honor killing law from Lebanon’s penal code.