Happenings Around the World — REFUGEE RELIEF — A

Refugees receiving assistance from Baptists in Lebanon

(All photos courtesy of LSESD)

LSESD provides refugees with food aid, mattresses, blankets, a heater and fuel so they can survive the winter.

Getting Refugees through the Winter IN LEBANON

s soon as 2016 arrived in Lebanon, so did the snow. With it idyllic photos of snowy Lebanese landscapes started to appear on Instagram, but it was far from ideal as thousands of Syrian refugees were living in tents exposed to the freezing cold conditions. LSESD, the Lebanese Society for Educational & Social Development, had

delivered the first phase of its winterization program for refugees. Hundreds of families were prepared for the onslaught of winter before it fully arrived. Through several supporters, including Baptist World Aid, 4,000 blankets, 842 mattresses, 630 emergency lights and 280 heating stoves were distributed to the most vulnerable. More than 740 families also started to receive monthly fuel vouchers for heating stoves during the winter months. Nader*, his wife and their six children were one of the families that was

helped. The family arrived in Lebanon in 2011 after their home in Idlib, Syria, was destroyed. They first stayed in a tent settlement in the Bekaa region before moving in 2014 into two rooms that were once used as a chicken farm, for which they pay a monthly rent of US$200. Nader was out of work and has asthma. They were broke and owed four months’ rent. The family’s only means of support was through LSESD and included monthly food aid in addition to blankets and mattresses. They also currently receive monthly fuel vouchers. Nader says LSESD’s support keeps them from dying of hunger. Another family helped was Wadha*, her husband and five children. They fled

from Aleppo, Syria, because of the shelling and have been in Lebanon for three years, living in a tent. The children don’t go to school. The family benefits from monthly food aid support as well as from blankets, mattresses and fuel. A recent report on the Educational and Mental Needs of Syrian Refugee Children notes that “Syrian refugee children are at risk for a range of mental health issues resulting from their traumatic experiences. Seventy nine percent had experienced a death in the family; 60 percent had seen someone get kicked, shot at, or physically hurt; and 30 percent had themselves been kicked, shot at, or physically hurt.” One challenge faced by refugee families is earning money, especially during

the winter. One such family of seven lives in the Bekaa Valley. During the summer the parents work in the plantations, but cannot find work in the winter. LSESD provides them with food aid, mattresses, blankets, a heater and fuel so they can survive.

These are excerpts of a report submitted by Lebanese Society for Educational & Social Development.

*Names changed to protect identities.

20 BAPTIST WORLD MAGAZINE