Reference :
V-P-LB-E-01378
Date :
07/2015
Caption :
Ras Baalbek. Lina with her three children in their makeshift home.
Confidentiality level :
public
Publication restrictions :
publication without restrictions
Description :
“For three years I had no answer for my children when they asked me 'What are we were going to eat today?'. I would wake up every day not knowing whether we could afford to buy food,” says Lina, a Lebanese returnee who became a mother at the age of 18, a displaced person at the age of 19 and a widow at the age of 20. Currently living with her parents and siblings in a makeshift home in the barren lands of Ras Baalbek, Lina quickly took on a key role in her family’s newly-founded small farm. “When the livelihood programme first started, it was difficult for us to adapt. We were so used to the misery that it took a while for us to snap out of it. But then I set up a routine for the entire household, and we all fell into our roles.”
ICRC website, photo gallery of the 2nd November:
“They are Lebanese. Decades ago, their ancestors settled in Syria. When war broke out in 2011, they fled Syria to their country of origin, leaving behind their homes and their belongings; their entire lives. As Lebanese nationals, they are not eligible for refugee aid, yet many of them endure the same hardships and are in dire need of assistance.
At the end of 2014, the ICRC began providing Lebanese returnees with cash assistance for a period of six months. And to help about 20 particularly vulnerable returnee families to start earning a living, the ICRC has been working with local NGO Jihad Al-Bina'a, providing goats and training so that people can produce and sell goats' milk and other dairy products.
The ICRC has also coordinated with the High Relief Commission (a Lebanese government agency), the International Organization for Migration and UNHCR to aid vulnerable Lebanese returnees who are not receiving any other help.
The ICRC hopes to help them regain a little bit of economic independence, boosting their self-confidence and restoring their dignity.”
Original material :
digital
Resolution :
5472x3648
Orientation :
landscape
Colour/B&W :
colour
