Displaced in Lebanon: Communities lifting themselves up

Text by Lissy Röntzsch based on information collected by Abdul Dennaoui for Medair

In a public school in Chouf District, Mount Lebanon Governorate, families displaced by the ongoing attack on Lebanon sit together, while children play basketball in the gym. Some people help offload emergency supplies from a truck. The supplies are provided by the non-governmental organization (NGO), Medair.

The school has been converted into a makeshift shelter and several organizations have been providing assistance and protection to displaced families.

Between the people seated on the mattresses is Alaa*, who along with his family has found refuge in the shelter. A bit further down sits Sahara*, 28 years old, with her two sons and her husband.

Both families are among the more than 1.1 million - or about one in every five people in Lebanon – who have  been forced to flee their homes. More than 136,000 people, including more than 47,000 children, are currently sheltering in collective sites nationwide, most of which are already at full capacity.

“When the moment came, it felt unreal”- Alaa

"It was around 3 a.m. when my phone started buzzing nonstop. The alerts were clear: we  had to leave immediately," recalled Alaa. Accompanied by his wife, father and two
daughters, he fled from the south when an evacuation order across their area was announced.

“We had been expecting this might happen, so we kept all of our documents packed together in a single bag, with a few essential items set aside. Still, when the moment actually came, it felt unreal. I woke my family, my daughter Reina, her sister, my wife, and my father, and told them we had to move quickly.”

In that moment, for his daughter Reina*, her most important belongings were not her clothes or her school bag, but her two birds. "She ran straight to her birds. She grabbed the cage with Baskōoti and Cookie inside and held it tightly to her chest. She told me she would not leave without them."

“Everyone loves Baskōoti and Cookie” - Reina

For Reina and her sister, these birds are a small piece of home in a situation of fear and uncertainty. The birds also help other children around them soften the shock of displacement.

“I didn’t want to leave our house, but when my parents woke me up in the middle of the night and said we had to go, I knew something was wrong. They were moving quickly, packing a few things into bags.  I was told to pack my own things too, but the only thing I could think of was my birds.

"Baskōoti and Cookie mean everything to me. I love them so much, and I didn’t have the heart to leave them behind. So, the first thing I grabbed was their cage. I held it tight and told my parents that the birds had to come with us, no matter what. I couldn’t imagine them staying alone in the house while we ran away.

"When we finally left, we were all squeezed into the car, my parents, my sister, my grandfather, and me with the birds on my lap. The roads were full, and it took hours and hours before we reached the school where we’re staying now.

"It’s different from home, but having Baskōoti and Cookie with me makes me feel a little safer. I’ve made new friends here, and everyone loves Baskōoti and Cookie. All the children want to see them and play with them, and that makes me feel more comfortable in this new place.”

“Every sound made me feel like the sky was falling behind us” - Sahara

Just like Alaa, Sahara fled in the early hours of the morning and had only minutes to pack everything and escape.

Sahara and her husband were just about to eat something for Suhoor (the crucial pre-dawn meal consumed before starting the daily fast during Ramadan) when they were alerted.

She recalls that upon receiving the alarm she tried to stay calm and pack their essentials  but could not stop shaking. Her husband, in the meantime, gently woke up their two sons so as not to frighten them.

 "I just grabbed whatever I could, held onto my children and ran."

While the family was on the main road to Beirut, the airstrikes started to hit and grew more intense.

When they reached Beirut, they were not the only ones. Sahara recalls how they had trouble finding shelter, as most accommodation was already rented out. After searching for an empty rental room in one building after another, they had no choice but to find shelter in the school. Here she and her family, like Alaa’s, received essential relief items such as mattresses, blankets, sleeping mats and solar lamps during a distribution by the non-governmental organization, Medair, at the school.

“There is still goodness around us” - Fatin

Fatin* sits beside Hamad*, her 2-year-old nephew, at the entrance of the school. She calls him my little prince.

"The night we left, my nephew held my hand the entire way. He didn’t let go for a single minute. He was shaking because the airstrikes were all around us. I kept telling him I was strong and that there was nothing to worry about, even though I was terrified inside. Today, as we sit here together, receiving these items gives me hope that even in the hardest moments, there is still goodness around us."

UN agencies and international and national non-governmental organizations are working together and in support of the Government of Lebanon to aid displaced families. OCHA has allocated $30 million from the humanitarian funds it manages to provide aid and scale up the response: $15 million from the Lebanon Humanitarian Fund (LHF) and $15 million from the UN's Global Emergency Fund (CERF).

In the face of hardship, Lebanese communities are holding onto each other. Families are helping families, and local organizations, powered by hundreds of volunteers, are working tirelessly to support those who have been displaced.

However, many families across the country are still struggling to access food, shelter, and medical care, while others remain in their homes in hard‑to‑reach areas, cut off from essential services and fearing for their lives as hostilities continue.