São Paulo – The Lebanese-born Brazilian descendant Rebecca Akl is an up-and-coming player in Lebanese basketball. The daughter to a mother from Goiânia, Brazil and a Lebanese father, she was born and currently lives in Jbeil, north of Lebanon’s capital Beirut. Aged 27, she’s the captain of the national team and an ambassador for We are the Hope, an NGO charged with motivating young people – including vulnerable youths – to take up sports.
Rebecca’s two older brothers are also basketball players. “I started playing with them when I was four, and I joined the school team when I was eight. My coaches would tell me I was really talented, so I kept working more and more,” she told ANBA in an interview via messaging in English.
Rebecca has been in the national team since she was 16. She made captain in 2017. “I played the Asia Cup in 2009, 2011 and 2017. We also played the 2019 West Asia Championship, which we won.”
Her work as a We are the Hope ambassador involves helping motivate young athletes to keep playing sports. “As an ambassador, on the one hand I’m trying to be an inspiration, and I work with young girls who need a little push. On the other hand, the NGO’s chair will help me get the exposure I need in Lebanon and elsewhere, so I can achieve my professional goals and get the exposure I deserve in a world where attention is paid to male sports,” said Rebecca.
Although she has no idols or athletes she looks up to in Brazil, Rebecca says she loves the country, and that the people are really friendly. “I love the Brazilian community in Lebanon. They are very family-oriented and close-knit. They help one another a lot and they’re full of life,” she said.
In 2001, she traveled to Brasília, where her mother used to live, and to Rio de Janeiro, Fortaleza and Natal. It was her only time in Brazil, at age eight. She considers herself more Lebanese than she is Brazilian. “But I always introduce myself as half-Brazilian, half-Lebanese,” she said.
“Rebecca has brought great joy to the ‘Brazilebanese’ community in Lebanon. Her prominence is a thrill for everyone here, especially the women. She’s our pride and joy,” the Brazilian-born director of Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK)’s Latin American Studies and Cultures Center (LASCC) Roberto Khatlab told ANBA.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
