Life For Urban Refugees in Lebanon
By Mary Kate MacIsaac
A roof over one’s head – consistently, this is among the top concerns of urban refugees who have fled Syria – a place to live and money to pay rent.
For Khaled, a Syrian refugee living in Lebanon, it is the topic he returns to before he sleeps and when he awakes. Without money for a basic, clean place to live, his family is staying in a dark dank room found for them by a relative. They have no running water, no proper sanitation. “There are rats and insects”, the family says. There is a heavy chill in the room. Khaled is wearing a jacket. His mother, wife, and children are wearing layers of shirts and sweaters. They could afford no heater to keep them warm in winter, nor during this cool wet spring.
Khaled, his wife Raeda, mother Najah, and children Nour, 11, and Suleiman, 10, fled Syria 18 months ago. The level of violence, the increasingly random air bombings, forced them to leave their home – a small two-bedroom house. It was humble, but it was theirs. “We owned it. But now, it is demolished,” Khaled says staring at the floor. The house was destroyed by the same aerial bombings which forced them to flee. “If we had been inside, we would all be dead.”
Today, his goal is to find a safe, clean space for his family. “I want to rent something fit for humans but can’t afford it. We’re already not eating well; we don’t have a proper diet, no nutrition. Most of the food we have had, I bought on credit from shop keepers.”
Below Anyone's Expectations
Their meals consist of noodles, canned tuna, other canned foods. “Whatever people give us,” Khaled admits. “We don’t eat as human beings. There’s no nutrition in what we eat. It’s below anyone’s expectations. Maybe we have a stew every ten days.”
A lack of funding in international aid has led to cutbacks in refugee food programs. The family does not qualify for food aid because their family is too small. Still, CARE supports Khaled’s family through emergency funds from the European Union, providing them with a $175 supplement each month for the last six-seven months. They use the money for food and medicine for Khaled’s mother who suffers with diabetes.
“God keep CARE. Without CARE’s assistance”, he says, “we would have nothing”.
Khaled looks for work every day, but says it’s inconsistent. “I will find work for two days, as a laborer, but then go for ten days without.” He can earn only US$7-10 for each day. Sometimes he sets up a stall at a weekend market, where he sells used clothing.
In Syria, Khaled was a house painter. “I could earn a lot of money in one day. But that was before the crisis. After the war began, there was no work, there was no money – only bombings.”
He rubs his eyes and describes without any emotion how his nephew was killed by shrapnel.
Abdel Qadir was only 12 years old when the exploding pieces of a barrel bomb, a weapon now ubiquitous to this war, ended his life. More than 220,000 people have been killed in this conflict, now in its fifth year.
Khaled’s children should be in fourth and fifth grade, but have not been able to attend school. “They’ve missed a whole year,” says Khaled. “It’s completely unaffordable for refugees in Lebanon.” Like many refugees, he cites the additional costs being problematic, transportation and books that the family simply cannot afford.
Suleiman, 10, says that he used to enjoy school. “I liked studying English,” he says shyly. “When I grow up, I want to be an astronaut.” The boy has dreams, yet Khaled fears that none may be attainable.
No Opportunities for a Better Future
“It’s a pity,” the father says watching his sons playing together. “They have all of these ambitions, but without education they have no opportunities for a better future.” Khaled, who completed grade eight, says he has always valued his education. “In Syria I was able to help my boys with their homework. Now they’re not even in school.”
Reminded of his family in Syria, Khaled says, “It pours salt into my wounds. All of my family is back in Syria. We have no contact with them, though.” They heard that Raeda’s brother was killed in the ongoing bombing. They have heard little more.
“In five years, I hope God will facilitate everything in our life. With a rented apartment, food we can eat and drink properly. We are bearing this now, just living with it. What more can we do? Hopefully, God will hear our prayers.” Someone must.