In Lebanon,
Syrian refugees at risk of being forgotten

In Lebanon, in the informal refugee camps, thousands of Syrians have been waiting for four years. Deprived of papers, they are unable to work to support their families and they survive in abject poverty. We help them while they wait for their legal status to be granted, a sine qua non condition to regain some hope and a possible future.

On the dirt road separating the rows of shops with white canopies, Ali passes by, sitting on his throne. The wheels of his wheelchair are covered with mud, his sister Fatima pushes with all her strength to avoid getting stuck in the mud. Ali Mohammed is 12 years old and suffers from muscular dystrophy. He arrived in Lebanon, carried by his father, after the army bombed his house in Homs.

He lives in Ghaze 003, one of 1500 informal camps of Syrian refugees in the Bekaa Valley. « When we arrived, I thought we would only stay a few weeks », says Ali. « But the weeks have turned into months and months to years », he says with deep sadness.

Already 4 years have gone by, and his future seems increasingly complex and uncertain: he has not been able to return to high school, and the economic situation of his family is catastrophic.

Rui Oliveira, Impact Director for the Syrian Crisis at Action Against Hunger explains: « After so many years of crisis, this seems like the last straw: at this point, the one and a half million refugees in Lebanon have sold the few goods they had brought with them, and their savings ran out during the first months of refuge in the country. »