Stories
Gone… All Gone
The laughter and chatter of the children died immediately when they rounded the corner and saw the black ground. Flat. The entire camp was gone and there were only pieces of blackened wood standing where tents once were.
For the last couple week Syrians in Lebanon have been under intense pressure to leave. With a political leader kidnapped, taken to Syria and assassinated, the undercurrent of anger that has been in Lebanon towards the refugees has bubbled to the surface.
It is unconfirmed how the fire started but it was thought to be from an electrical circuit. Though there is suspicion otherwise.
500 families lost their homes and now stay with relatives or in a communal shelter.
Below is from our principal Bethany at our center in Zahle,
On April 22, a refugee camp near our Zahle Center burnt to the ground. We have 19 students who lost their homes. Some of our students were at school and came home to no home. Some were at home and escaped with only the clothes on their backs.
It’s been a sad and traumatic time for them all. Initially, we didn’t know where our students were as they weren’t coming to school.
When I visited the camp after the fire, I found some students were not coming to school because they were embarrassed, they didn’t have the right clothes. Some weren’t coming because they were sleeping at relatives’ homes. Thankfully, we have now been able to get most of them back though their attendance has been erratic (understandably so).
As of now, they have not received permission to rebuild their tents and so they remain in a holding pattern of sleeping at relatives and some even sleeping outside.
As an organization, we received a lot of clothes donations to help the victims of the fire. We held an informal market for the families of our students where they were able to come and get clothes for their families. They were very blessed by this gesture and walked away with bags and bags of clothes and shoes for their families
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