Day X - Lebanon

after being in Jordan with the SCM-team I flew to Beirut and there I decided to get myself a picture about the situation regarding the refugees in the smallest neigboring country of Syria but with the highest number of refugees.
The small city of Ersal (or Arsal) has quite a bad reputation of being unsafe nevertheless I asked friends to take me there. It used to be a little town of about 30.000 inhabitants but recently due to the flow of refugees it got more than 70.000. Ersal is only separated from Syria by the mountains and the people flee here with trucks, motorbikes or small buses.
I just arrived around noon where I witnessed the distribution of warm meals.

as a first place of refuge the new arrivals stay in a multi purpose hall that normally is used for gatherings, weddings and so on. They receive mattresses and blankets and share the small space with other families.

Trucks like this arrive fully loaded to Ersal

within the building families are trying to seperate a bit from others by building small units, 2x2m

Unicef established a small medical centre where basic care and medicine are provided

This young man arrived recently from Syria with all he got left not knowing yet where to go respectively where to settle

Others (visible on the right) have unloaded their remaining belongings waiting for a tent to move in

The camp gives shelter for those who arrived some weeks ago. Compared to Zaatari it is much smaller, defenitely less organised and with no electricity so people have no TV or other electronics, not even light. 

Ironically it is beautifully located between the mountains and shows a peaceful scenery - hiding what lies beyond the peaks, their homeland in war and chaos.

One Syrian charging his mobile phone with the battery of his motor bike. In the tents you see brick stones on the floor to lift the sleeping place from the cold ground.

The altitude of Arsal varies from minimum 1.400 till 2.600 m so even though it was still quite warm while I was there during the day you can imagine how cold it gets at night. Snow is expected within the next weeks.

While interviewing a family from Aara in their tent and had tea offered by um Amer (mother of Amer) for a moment I remembered times when I used to go camping with friends though just a for few days and in summer. It always felt good to be back indoors and be able to sleep in a cosy, spacy bed...

Not far from the camp site we went to a school where 3 shifts are held. 1. classes for the Lebanese 2. classes for the Syrian and 3. psycological care for the traumatised kids.

you might think it is a girls school only but it wasn't. I happend to be there when Lebanese kids where present.

Mr. Hodai, the psychiatrist on site. He is Lebanese and gets paid through funds from Qatar. 

Mustaffa a pediatrist who lost 3 fingers in Syria treats with the help of Muhanad, a dentist, the kids and adults in all possible way as good as they can. Medication is often not sufficient for the needy. They have 16 beds for the patients at that facility. Though once they had 72 injured when fighter jets bombed the area around the border. Many where transferred afterwards to hospitals in the surroundings but not every clinic accepts them.

the medical centre is basic but ok. It opened in May 2013.

another building which is beeing used to accomodate many families. One can understand that they would like to be transferred to individual tents. In such a big group illnesses also pass around quickly.

though their wish is to move to camps at least it is warmer in here and luckily heating was provided for the months to come.

some collected cloths which are certainly needed. However there is still a high demand for more, especially sleeping bags and boots (rubber ones against mud, snow and rain)

the kitchen which was build for the only purpose to feed the hungry. Basic but very efficient. I was told that about 3000 warm daily meals are prepared here. Btw the food is good, I ate the dish that was cooked for the Syrians with rice, beans, little meat and yoghurt there myself.  

a basic pick up the fugitives used to cross the mountains with Syrian licence plates that show their origins.

Day 7

Driving through Zaatari Camp, a "city" of tents and containers in the desert.

Meanwhile more than 180.000 people live there.

From the beginning where only a few tents existed the develompment of the camp went on from tents to containers to recently simple build housing. One could interpret that as an improvement for the fugitives but in fact it is a sign that the government expects the camp to be a long-lasting facility and this should rather worry us...

 

did not expect to see so many blond and red haired Syrians...

though medical devices are lacking, the Syrians find a way to help themselves

these kids are the future of a new Syria. Hopefully they can enter their free country soon. I doubt if though unfortunately...

container moving device

electricity supply 

fortunatly the desert gives new life and brings some aliment to the fugitives

our tent in the camp where the doctors built up the different units again

although supermarkets are available in the camp people can only afford to buy little as each person receives coupons worth 24 Dinar (= approx. 25€) per week and the amount will soon decrease as funds drop

Day 6

today we brought the mobile clinic to the village of Salt where again Syrians in need from the area came in hundreds to be treated by foreign doctors.

a nursery soon to be converted to a multi-doctor's consulting room

 Day 5

Visiting a school in Keteh, where the teacher Samir, an engineer, gives language and science lessons to 32 pupils between the age of 8 and 13 for about 5 hours. 
It has opened beginning of November and the kids seemed to be motivated and amused when I joined them.

open air dental care

the kitchen became a pharmacy for some hours

in the afternoon we joined another team in Jarash, another village about 20 miles from the Syrian border.