This is the story of Marie who was selected along with 200 other women to participate in a series of training, conducted by ACTED Lebanon and funded by the Centre de Crise et de Soutien (CDC).
The Syrian conflict, which has seen over 9 million people flee their homes, has affected thousands more in the neighboring countries especially in Lebanon where 1.2 million registered Syrian refugees have found refuge. Tensions between the Lebanese host community and the Syrian refugees are not rare.
Marie is Lebanese and lives in Jbeil with her husband and their 4 children. Six years ago, her husband got ill and had to leave his job. With no income for years, the family was forced to rely on their family and friends’ assistance: “It is really hard to pay the bills, sometimes I can’t even go to the supermarket” says Marie. “Between my husband, my children and taking care of the house, I don’t have time to take care of myself anymore”.
In 2015, ACTED Lebanon launched a women empowerment project in order to assist vulnerable women like Marie. Under this program, training and awareness sessions were implemented regarding different subjects and activities: Sewing, nail care, hygiene, health and nutrition, protection and communication. 200 women (Lebanese, Syrian and Iraqis) participated in the training during the 10 months project. Marie was one of the 200 beneficiaries of ACTED’s initiative. She told our teams: “You have provided me with knowledge through many different and interesting topics!”. According to Marie and other trainees, the program was really useful and all the participants are eager to start putting in practice what they learned at home with their families, their friends and to start using what they learned in sewing and nailcaring.
It was the first time in years, that Marie had a time for herself, away from her daily chores, learning and participating in a variety of activities with people she did not know before and in some cases, was scared of.
Before participating in this training, Marie did not know any Syrian refugee and was reluctant regarding their presence in Lebanon. After two months of training and awareness sessions, alongside other Lebanese women and Syrian refugees, Marie’s opinion regarding refugees changed: “Having different communities sitting, talking and working together was one of the greatest aspect of this training. We got along perfectly and I even made some friends!” says Marie smiling.
On 28 February 2016, ACTED organized a graduation ceremony in Jbeil for the last group of women trainees. In the presence of the local authorities, the Social Development Center team where all the activities were implemented and conducted, a 50 women group was invited and each of them received a certificate, handed by ACTED’s Country Director and the Program Coordinator, rewarding their efforts during the training.
This project was made possible due to the generous funding of the Centre de Crise et de Soutien in France.