I wasn't sure what exactly I was expecting when I came to Lebanon. Everyone was saying how different it is from typically being in the field. You can find anything you could ever ask for, there's even McDonald's! (oh yeah). And it's true. All that I knew was that I had been watching the news about the crisis in Syria, and every time anything came on, my heart would break, and I knew that I wanted to do something.
Hence, why I find myself in Lebanon (still with Medair) working in the Bekkaa valley with the refugees who are fleeing Syria. We provide material to upgrade the shelters that they already have. The context is a new one to me: as from town, you only drive about 20 minutes and you find yourself in the middle of a refugee tented settlement.
I've worked with IDP (internally displaced person)s, but this was my first time working with refugees. I walked around with the assessments, taking it all in, accepting only one or two of the invitations to come and sit. When I would sit, I would just look around thanking them and seeing everything that they own...wondering what would I bring, if I had to leave my home, not knowing when I would come back, or if my house, family or belongings would be there when I came back?
While going around doing assessments, I love seeing Kindness in action...and I love drinking chai (tea). You can't NOT be invited in...Of the now hundreds of tents I've seen...I have always been told "welcome".
I came across one city of Mansoura. We go in and talk to municipalities, just so they are aware that we plan to work in their area and see if they have any information that would be useful for us. I have to say, in my many years of aid work, I've been to many a municipality meetings....But this one was by far my favourite....complete with my high school level Spanish, hookah/shisha, oh yes, the pistol that was pointed at my face that he quickly moved away from my face, and chai! I learned that this community was working amongst themselves to take care of the Syrian refugees. Lebanon is a very small country. When you look at the numbers of the refugees especially in comparison to the fact that Lebanon only has 4 million people...that's a lot of refugees. Taking up a lot of space. And it doesn't bother the people of Mansoura. They see a need. They collect among themselves to provide food and non food items and still help us to help them with upgrading their shelters. Mansoura humbled me by their kindness and Love. It might just now be my favourite little town in all of the world. How is it that I always go somewhere and I'M the one that is overwhelmed and taught the basics of Love and Understanding?
I must admit...I love kissing on some babies. So, on assessment days, when we assess the shelters, I find the babies. On distribution days, I go back and find them again. On one distribution day, I went looking for this baby that I had met just a couple of days earlier.
"Morhabah" I greeted the mom. "Is the baby here?" I asked, making the universal gesture for baby.
"Ah, Sarai" she said. She got her and handed her to me. I pulled the blanket from her sweet face and learned she was a month old. She was born in Syria but they had left 16 days ago to come and live in this settlement due to the fighting in Syria.
Sarai opened her eyes, and as her new eyes were trying to focus on mine, I said a prayer for Sarai. That this precious girl would one day be able to go home, to a place where she can grow up in peace and grow up like every child should be able to.
After being an aid worker for several years, I consider myself pretty jaded. Things don't really bother me like they used to, and they really can't after you've seen what I have...But however hard I thought my heart was, it broke when I held that little girl. A part of it breaks every day I see a Syrian child put her hand over her mouth to not fully laugh at my broken Arabic. It breaks when I see a mom trying to quiet her crying child in the shelter in a foreign land that, not by their own choice, has become their home. it breaks when I see so many people and how they continue to come- because there is no other option.
I am glad that I get to see the faces and hear the stories of the Syrian refugees. Because now, they are people with a story. Not a number. Not too long ago, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees made the plea "Do not abandon the people of Syria".
You might not be here. But you can pray. You can tell what you do know and what you do hear. You can remember. My friend Andrew wrote a story on the Medair blog and said it beautifully....that they need to know that they aren't forgotten. That they are not alone.
The Syrian children have also reminded me, especially this week, that "The simple things in life are the most extraordinary. And only the wise see them"- The Alchemist
May we all be wise enough to see them wherever we are,
Love,
Patty
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