From Syria to Lebanon: Ahmad's family story
Ahmad is a Syrian refugee who left everything behind, fleeing the Syrian civil war, and came to Lebanon to seek refuge for his family. Ahmad and his family live in a neighborhood in South Beirut, referred to as the “neighborhood of exclusion” by the locals. Over the last 25 years, increased poverty has forced families to migrate to this neighborhood in search of affordable shelter. But the majority of these families are living in very sub-standard conditions. Together with limited services, this has detrimental impacts on people’s health, especially of the children, many of whom do not attend school. The neighborhood has experienced an increase of population due to the Syrian crisis, leading to overcrowding in an already poor area, placing further stress on the families residing there and the displaced families who have recently inhabited the area.
Ahmad, when asked about his life before the Syrian civil war, explains with some emotion how much his life has changed since the crisis: “We used to wake up, pray in the beautiful morning. We had a land… Our land… Without the noise of bombings, just birds chirping”. Ahmad’s family lived of their land, near the mountains; they sold their fruits, vegetables and milk: “My uncle would pick me up and take me to the nearest market, he had a car. We didn’t, but we were happy”, Ahmad explains.
Ahmad was forced to leave his country when the bombings in the city of Hama became unbearable: “We tried to stay, we wanted to stay, but after a year of intense bombings, we had to leave”. Ahmad’s family paid three times the normal fee to flee Syria. “The smugglers take advantage of the people leaving Syria”, he says, “they knew we had children we wanted to protect”. Ahmad’s family lost everything, and now, after three years in Lebanon trying to feed their children and to pay for bills, all their savings are exhausted. “We need money for food, for rent, just to live”, Ahmad explains.
ACTED provides improved sanitation for Syrians in Lebanon
ACTED teams worked for the rehabilitation of their bathrooms and washing facilities and for the installation of a water tank and water filters. The rehabilitation work took one week of time and was a huge relief for Ahmad’s family: “Now we know what dignity means again”. Their house is now rehabilitated, which changes their life significantly.
Previously to ACTED’s rehabilitation work, Ahmad, his wife and their four children shared a bathroom with no proper shower and no toilet seat. The water leaks in the kitchen sink were so bad that the family had to empty water buckets several times during the day and the night to avoid water damages. “I can finally sleep, we no longer hear the sound of water drops!”, says Ahmad’s wife. In order to avoid getting sick due to water related diseases, the family needed to boil water to kill bacteria. The new water filter is a huge relief and makes their life much easier.
The family used to count on their neighbors, who helped them install an improvised water connection, so that they could benefit from their water tank. According to Ahmad, it was really hard for them to have access to water, since they had to wait for their neighbors to finish all their domestic chores in order to benefit from their water tank. “Because of this, we never had hot water and sometimes we had no water at all”, says Ahmad. Now, with their new water tank, Ahmad’s family can take showers, clean and cook anytime they desire.
ACTED’s water, sanitation and hygiene intervention is already a great relief for Ahmad’s family. Now, Ahmad wishes he could get scholarships for his children to improve their life after fleeing Syria. But most of all, he hopes they will be able to “go back to Syria”.
This project was made possible due to the generous funding of the government of Germany.