Case Study February 2014 Lebanon Country Programme

“I heard about the Save the Children project and it sounded really interesting but I was really afraid to go out and meet new people. I knew that we will get two hundred dollars monthly so I thought that I can do it; I want to help my father and this is a great chance so I registered my name and started going to the workshop,” Lama, 19 years old.

 Lamis, 16 years old, planting pine trees with her friends, as part of a community project for Syrian and Lebanese youth in Bekaa.

Lama is a 19 year old Syrian boy whose family fled Syria four months ago after living under siege for a year. The transition was very difficult for him and he felt isolated and frustrated by his situation. He signed up for a Save the life skills training as a community project which targeted both Lebanese and Syrian youth. The initiative was run by Save the Children’s Food Security and Livelihoods sector to help foster social cohesion and build relationships between the Syrian refugee community and the Lebanese host community. For three months the youth received training on life skills and learnt the basics of planning and running a small business. Their community project focused on conservation; they planted two hundred trees in the town where they now live as refugees as a thank you to the host community for their hospitality.

Lama’s story in her own words:

“Inside Syria I was working with a group of youth as a volunteer in a home-school for the children of my neighborhood. It was not actually a school but we were trying to give those children a chance to feel safe for few hours a day and at the same time it allowed the children to express themselves creatively. We were not trained but it maybe was better than nothing.

Four months ago we had the chance to escape to Lebanon. I arrived here with my family with nothing at all because we already lost everything in Syria after living almost a year under siege.

With the help of some people we know we rented a room in this village and my father started looking for any job. I am also trying to find a job so I can help him but it seems to be almost impossible because

everyone is looking for job and Lebanon is already suffering.

After the first few months here I started to feel frustrated, maybe we are safe here away from shelling and clashes but living here under these conditions is a slow death. I didn’t want to leave the house and I wasn’t talking to anyone but my family.

I heard about the Save the Children project and it sounded really interesting but I was really afraid to go out and meet new people. I knew that we will get two hundred dollars monthly so I thought that I can do it; I want to help my father and this is a great chance so I registered my name and started going to the workshop.

The first few days I was still afraid and I guess that everyone was afraid as well but few days later we started to be more involved in the training and we started getting to know each other and that was the best part. Now I have new friends from different backgrounds and that was really interesting, we started visiting each other even away from the training; every one of us had been living in isolation and this workshop was the first opportunity for us to meet and make friends.

The training itself was so useful; we have the will and they are providing us with the know-how. Now we can start our own projects; we know how to think as a team and work as a team. We want to have a positive influence on the community around us and here we start. These trees we are panting are a fine example of what I am talking about; everyone is happy and the people of this town had started talking about our group and how good we are. We have started feeling alive again.”

Context and background

Since the start of the crisis more than a million Syrian refugees have fled to Lebanon, a tiny country with a population of just over 4 million. The rental market is now saturated, prices have skyrocketed and most families cannot afford to rent even the most basic accommodation. Increasingly, they are seeking refuge in makeshift shelter in one of the 450 informal settlements that have sprung up in Bekaa and northern Lebanon and are now home to some 150,000 refugees or in unfinished buildings or other buildings not intended for human habitation . Conditions in informal settlements and unfinished buildings are abysmal and do little to protect families against snow, plummeting temperatures, freezing floods and icy winds that characterize winters in this region or the blistering heat that characterizes the summer months. Most of the settlements and unfinished buildings lack even the most basic water and sanitation services. Small children often have to walk long distances along dangerous roads to access clean water. Raw sewage and rodent infestation provide additional health hazards. In the context of the Lebanon winter, providing shelter is a live-saving activity and Save the Children has embarked on its biggest ever shelter program, providing emergency help to tens of thousands of the most vulnerable refugees. In addition to the 260,000 refugees who have already received support from our health, shelter, FSL, education and child protection, sectors, more than 70,000 people and thousands of the most vulnerable families facing another brutal winter in north and eastern Lebanon will benefit from our combined assistance of cash, non-food items and shelter materials as part of our winterization project.

 Interview carried out by Ahmad Baroudi and edited by Marion McKeone on March 5th 2014.