Every day, Seranoush climbs the steep stairs to her room where she lives in a converted attic in the crowded neighborhoods of Bourj Hammoud, a mixed residential, industrial and commercial area in east ‘Greater Beirut’. At 79, Seranoush is still caring for herself, as well as her niece Mary and her family, who lives in a downstairs bedroom. Seranoush has a small balcony that she turned into an impromptu garden. “You know, I can still take care of things,” she says with affectionate for her plants. One could say the same thing about the house as she clearly keeps it in good order. Dressed properly in black, her grey hair pulled back neatly with a band, her dark eyes radiate with laughter when she speaks.
CARE is addressing shelter needs among vulnerable Lebanese families and Syrian refugees living in Bourj Hammoud. Through a “one neighborhood” approach and in cooperation with Habitat for Humanity, CARE supports the rehabilitation of homes in a community that has long suffered from a hard socioeconomic situation, only made worse with the recent influx of Syrian refugees.
Mary and Seranoush . Photo: Reda Hassan
In Seranoush’s small home, CARE has restored the bathroom, installing a proper toilet and shower, a door for privacy and protection, and general sanitary items; little things that are vital in helping ensure a life with dignity.
Bourj Hammoud has been described as one of the most densely populated districts in the Middle East. It was established by the Armenian diaspora on the eastern bank of the Beirut river, now itself a sewage-filled monument to the beauty it once claimed. Today, handmade jewelry shops, garment factories, traditional Armenian food restaurants, and spices and grains shops occupy most of the district’s economic revenue. The latter occupies most of the district’s air with aromas of mixed spices wafting through the streets.
“I came here two and a half years ago from Aleppo,” explains Mary, Seranoush’s niece and a single mother raising two boys. A Lebanese national, Mary was married to a Syrian man and living in Aleppo before the war took over. Her husband passed away ten years ago. “I went back to Aleppo a few months ago, through 18 hours of fear and tension, to find that not much is left of our house.” Mary’s house was hit by airstrikes and is now uninhabitable. “But my boys are here with me now, that’s what’s important, everything else can be recovered.”
Mary lives now with in the one-bedroom apartment with her sons. “It was a store, then my brother came and fixed a bit of the place before he passed away. My aunt is still fixing the rest when she can,” says Mary. Her sons do not carry Lebanese nationality, due to Lebanese laws preventing women from passing their nationality to their children. “They get by doing whatever work they can find in the area,” Mary says, adding that a son was recently dismissed from his job. Still, they continue to do what they can to provide for the household.
By Reda Hassan, Advocacy and Communications Manager, CARE Lebanon
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