AL-MARJ, Lebanon: As the minibus pulled inside Hamdanieh refugee camp in the snow covered Bekaa Valley town of Al-Marj, the passengers fell silent. One woman whispered under her breath, “So this is how they live.” Most had never seen a refugee camp before, let alone one in the aftermath of a brutal winter storm. The passengers were part of a group of volunteers – some expats and the rest locals – gathered by Lebanese4Refugees, a civil campaign set up by journalist and activist Carol Maalouf in December 2013.
photographed by: Mona Ayoub
Although the ostensible aim of the trip was to allow volunteers to see the camps and aid distribution process firsthand, there was also a clear desire to show solidarity with the refugees amid anti-Syrian sentiment that has snowballed as the humanitarian crisis nears its fifth year.
“Most Lebanese people are caring, and they feel compassion about this issue,” said Mona Ayoub, social media coordinator for the Lebanese4Refugees. “These people are not like those who say that we don’t want refugees in Lebanon.”
She pointed to the success of the winter items collection drive, which was held Saturday in Hamra, as an example of how much most people wanted to help.
“We are trying to melt the ice between Lebanese and refugees and I think we have succeeded, because the amount of donations we have got is huge,” she said as she stamped her feet on the snowy ground to keep warm. “We had to extend the collections campaign by two days, which we didn’t expect.”
Inside Hamdanieh, boxes made of concrete, tarpaulin and corrugated iron serve as homes for around 750 people, of which some 400 are aged under 15. The pipes of the water pumps are frozen, and a thick layer of snow has coated everything, but the refugees here at least have proper walls to lend some protection from the cold, unlike many of the 1.5 million Syrians estimated to be in Lebanon now.