Another trip to Lebanon is over, the 24th in the row for Abri Aid.
This time, the Quality Hotels in the Stavanger region have been a donor, and Abdul Rezaie has been participating from the staff.
He is originally from Afghanistan. As a 14-year-old, he first fled across the border to Iran, and with such a background he is able to ask well-founded questions about priorities and the areas that are most important to help.
One day was spent organizing the purchase and distribution of fuel. 100 families were given 40 liters of fuel, and when the team arrived at the selected camp many expressed that it was in the county’s time. In recent months, Bekaadalen has been hit by a harsher winter than in a long time, but last week the weather changed. Now spring is here and the need for heat is not as great, but because of cooking and boiling water, this is one of the most important help a refugee can get.
Economic and political disadvantage
The situation in Lebanon is getting worse. In addition to the cost of housing 1.5 million Syrian refugees, the country is in economic and political disadvantage in other areas as well. Local aid workers are increasingly talking about the fact that many of the country’s own inhabitants are in the same miserable situation as the refugees from neighboring countries, and we who are close to this notice that more and more are characterized by excitement and the question of this should not end.
The other day we went to four hospitals and looked at patients we have committed to follow up. The strongest impression was the meeting with 14-year-old Yusef from war-ravaged Aleppo. The mother lost her husband there and now lives in a lonely tent north of Lebanon with five kids. Yusef suffers from a rare disease that causes the value of the white blood cells to be so low that he would not survive without the treatment he receives at a private hospital outside Baalbek. Only the medication costs around NOK 100,000, in addition to the expenses for the medical treatment.
About half of our resources go to medical aid, the rest to what we call shelter, to a minimum of what people need to survive. Yesterday we also visited a poor family who simply did not have food. A trip to the store means that they will do well next week, what happens next is nobody knows.
The case of Yusuf is so expensive that we join a splice team with a number of other organizations. You can too if you vipps to # 525988 (only for norwegians).
Thanks to the heroes
Nor would this trip have been possible without our partners in the Syrian Crisis Response Unit, thanks to Roba, Nathaly, Sobhi, Hamze, Hussein and all the other heroes.
And thank you for the effort, Abdul!