Lebanon: the desperation of Syrian refugees who are stuck in misery
Audio 02:34
A Syrian refugee camp in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, June 10, 2019 (illustrative image).
JOSEPH EID / AFP
By: Noé Pignède Follow
7 min
Lebanon is sinking deeper into the economic crisis every day.
In one year, the national currency, the Lebanese pound, has lost 80% of its value.
Nearly half of the population now lives below the poverty line, and the country is expected to experience a 25% recession this year.
This economic crisis hits the Lebanese hard, but also the 1.5 million Syrians who have taken refuge in the land of the cedar.
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Poor workers, most of whom lived on odd jobs, today they find themselves without work and without prospects.
We are in the Kobelios camp, in the Bekaa valley, near the Syrian border, and we have a meeting with Mohammed and Samira, a couple of Syrians who settled here a year ago.
They had to flee Aleppo after their house was bombed.
In the explosion, Mohammed lost his eyesight and he can no longer support his family.
He can only count on his wife, but with the current crisis in Lebanon, she can no longer find a job either.
: “
When we arrived here, the situation was good.
My wife was working.
Then she got pregnant.
When she gave birth to our child, she had to stop working to take care of it.
At the same time, the economic situation started to deteriorate ... And then there was the coronavirus which only made things worse.
I can't work anymore, neither can my wife.
We can only count on our neighbors who give us food and old clothes.
We left Syria where it was very hard, but now the situation is as bad in Lebanon as it is there.
I wish I could cure my blindness, but the doctor at the Beirut hospital charges me $ 200 per consultation.
I do not know what to do.
We have nothing
.
"
Mohammed's disability increases the vulnerability of his family.
During our meeting, the men in charge of the management of the camp come several times to ask the couple for a rent of one million pounds, the equivalent of 300 euros that the family does not have.
“
I keep hearing people here saying that they want to abuse my wife, pay her to prostitute herself.
That anyway, I wouldn't see anything.
They take advantage of the fact that we have no choice.
It makes me very angry, but I can't do anything because I'm blind.
"
Beside him, his wife Samira looks away.
Since her husband lost his sight, the survival of the family has rested entirely on her shoulders.
“
Of course I am proud to be the head of the family
!
I have to take care of my husband and my child.
But I am very sad, because without a job I cannot support them.
There is no work and no one is helping us here
.
"
“
That's why we're trying to leave illegally for Europe, but for now we don't have the money to pay a smuggler,”
says Mohammed
.
It costs
$ 20,000.
I know it is very dangerous, but I am ready to sacrifice myself for my children.
"
"
But we hope to be able to go elsewhere thanks to the United Nations, because we will never find the money to pay a smuggler
", she continues.
"
If we find a country that is willing to help us,
" he said, "to
treat my eyes, to educate our children and to protect us, we will no longer need to flee and we can finally forget about Syria and Lebanon.
"
Like most of the Syrians present in Lebanon, who have requested relocation to Western countries this year, Mohammed and Samira's case has so far remained unanswered.
According to the United Nations, three quarters of the 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon now live below the poverty line.
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Lebanon
Syria
Refugees
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