For Syrian refugees, life in Lebanon is remarkably harsh: economically, politically and socially, whether in the camps and informal settlements or outside. Across the border, the severity of threats hasn't diminished enough to make navigating questions of return any less of an existential problem.
This leaves very little room for manoeuvre between not being able to go back, but not being able to stay either.
On various assignments with:
UNHCR, Sawa for Development and Aid, Himaya Lebanon, Hilfswerk International
Lebanon, 2014-2017
7 out of 10 Syrian refugee families live below the poverty line. For most, a dignifying income, basic education, or medical supplies are often out of reach. Looking beyond the bleak material reality, other factors like family trauma, child abuse, loneliness, isolation, or homeland nostalgia are easily overlooked.
Stuck in a limbo of vulnerability, intersecting structures of oppression, and no change in sight, people become experts at managing their struggles.
They are not on their own though. A resilience patchwork of community initiatives, civil society organisations, solidarity, and sheer stubbornness keeps makeshift neighbourhoods sane and the years pass by.
In the informal settlement where Abdel Kareem and his family live in Mount Lebanon, there are 6 tents and more than 50 people – with more than one family sharing the same tent.
“My children spend most of their day gathering olives and chunks of wood that we either sell or use ourselves.”
Abdel Kareem’s wife Hamida says their children used to go to school in Syria, but in Lebanon, none of them is able to attend as there is no school nearby and transport is neither safe nor affordable.
“We are paying USD 100 per tent on this piece of land. Sometimes I borrow money from neighbours or use the assistance I am getting to cover rent. But it is not easy.”
For 3 years I was documenting how different projects ranging from winter assistance, health care centres, mobile libraries, water supply upgrades, cash assistance, volunteer education programmes, to safe houses for children impact the livelihoods of Syrian refugees in Lebanon.