Philippe Leveque, the executive director of CARE France has just returned from Lebanon, the country that hosts the greatest number of Syrian refugees. During CARE’s assessment, Philippe Leveque met numerous refugees that told him how they are coping with their new situation, what their difficulties and what their hopes for the future are.
Chatila is a poor neighbourhood of Beirut, which hosts numerous Palestinian refugees. This labyrinth, made out of steep alleys, is populated by Palestinian refugees and very poor Lebanese. Overpopulated, this camp faces now the massive arrival of additional Palestinians who flee the violence in Syria.
It is in this neighbourhood where kids play in streets and where sewage water runs down the alley that we meet Nada and Houria. These two very young widows live on the 6th floor of a building that looks like it will collapse soon. They live under the roof in two rooms with no furniture or windows and with their six children, including a very young baby and a handicapped boy.
Their husbands were killed in Syria. The two families sleep on mattresses on the floor. Nada and Houria have access to drinking water once a day. They keep it in the bathtub. The electric installation is old and hacked into by all the new tenants: regular fires, smoke and smell lead to everyone panicking in the overpopulated building. The only help these two widows receive is from our local partner PARD, which distributes food vouchers. To live in this old attic, the two widows pay 400 US Dollars for rent. And recently, the landlord has asked them to leave because he has found other tenants willing to pay 500 dollars!
Rent is a huge problem in Lebanon and it is worsening every week. Places such as attics, garages, stables find tenants for hundreds of dollars. For now, however, the Lebanese government is refusing to open official refugee camps like in neighbouring Jordan. It fears, perhaps rightly, that the situation of 1948 could happen again and that the camps become permanent.
But until then, what will Nada and Houria become? Without resources, without family, without work… For CARE and our partners, female refugees are in need of help and this is a priority for us: we will implement specific programs that will take care and protect them. But to do so, CARE needs donations and human resources. Fortunately, Lebanon can count on a dynamic civil society. Our role is to support them.
Click here to read more about our work with Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
About CARE: Founded in 1945 with the creation of the CARE Package, CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. CARE has more than six decades of experience delivering emergency aid during times of crisis. Our emergency responses focus on the needs of the most vulnerable populations, particularly girls and women. Women and girls are at the heart of CARE’s emergency relief efforts because our experience shows that their gains translate into benefits for families and communities. In Lebanon, CARE has set up operations in 2013 to support the growing needs of Syrian refugees.