It was reported on Sky News:

Last Sunday, the Lebanese young man, Yahya Nabil Kabbara, from the city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon, was able to realize a dream he had since childhood, to reach the “Rabbit Island” for swimming, which is one of the 12 most prominent islands opposite Tripoli in the Mediterranean.

In response to a personal challenge, Kabbara, a 34-year-old mathematics teacher, decided to swim a long distance from the port of Tripoli towards the island, which is 5,500 meters from the shore in the depths of the sea, braving strong waves and armed with plastic fins that he had borrowed from one of his relatives .

And he was able to swim to the island in a journey that took 4 and a half hours to reach it and raise the Lebanese flag on it.

In response to an answer to why this challenge? Kabbara told Sky News Arabia: “To prove to myself and childhood friends and everyone who knew me that a person can win physical skills if he decides to do so, and obesity does not hinder him and he can get rid of it whenever he decides to do so.”

And he added, “My childhood was not normal like other children. I was obese, which exposed me to bullying by some, and I indulged myself until my parents thought I was lonely, but I was not convinced that the obese person could not achieve his goals or perform physical activities like others.”

And he continued: “And this wish remained in me, and I carried it with me to the lands of expatriation, and I achieved it, challenging myself before others, after more than twenty years.”

Nabil explained, “At the age of twenty-five, I decided to change, tested myself in swimming after the Corona pandemic, and entered the scouting life with my students, played basketball, and also participated in bicycle races and running.”

He added, “Like other Lebanese youth, I went through difficult circumstances, and I am not ashamed to say that I despaired, and this was an incentive to participate in activities in nature and among my students and friends.”

About this challenge, Kabara says, “At the beginning of the quarantine, I began to practice sports after I felt that I was on the verge of despair and frustration from home confinement, and I liked the idea of ​​implementing my hobby of swimming, so I borrowed plastic fins for the first time from a relative of mine and started swimming short distances between 300 and 500 Until I decided in October of last year to swim towards one of the nearby islands for an hour straight and increased my swimming ability to 3000 metres.

Kabbara adds enthusiastically, “The idea of ​​swimming to the rabbit island or the palm reserve as it is called, kept coming to me, especially since I only saw it twice when I was a child and decided to take the challenge, thank God I succeeded.”

Kabara concludes by saying: “I have other dreams that I will also strive to achieve, including learning scuba diving.”