Nour Kharsa is an English teacher from Damascus. She had to flee to Lebanon more than 10 years ago, to escape Syria’s brutal conflict. Like many other Syrian refugees in Lebanon, she’s still in the neighbouring country today. And now, Israel’s attacks on Lebanon have further “increased fear and insecurity for everyone” in the camps.
As Kharsa told the Canary:
We can hear the explosions close by. We can hear the planes in the sky and the missiles. … This war added more challenges and deepened trauma for everyone.
Kharsa also gave us an insight into conditions in Lebanon’s refugee camps. With only very basic shelters and resources, many families have to “burn tires and rubbish” for warmth in winter. And with little to no chance of educational or work opportunities, their lives remain in limbo.
In 2011, Syria very quickly became a devastating proxy war battleground for the US and others. NATO superpower Turkey is still adding to Syria’s suffering today. But with the plight of Syrian refugees no longer occupying such a big space in the media, it would be easy for many people to forget that the conflict is still going on and that countless refugees still “worry about daily survival” many years after leaving their homes behind.
Syrian refugees in Lebanon’s camps
The Lebanese town of Arsal lies near the country’s border with Syria. The mountainous Bekaa Valley region where it sits, Human Rights Watch explained in 2021, has “harsh winters”. And Kharsa said there are 147 refugee camps in the area, hosting thousands of refugees. Most people have also been there for many years, mainly coming from parts of Syria close to the Lebanese border north of Damascus, including Homs, Al Qusayr and Al Qalamun. Before the war, she told us, most of the men in the camp used to work in quarries, which shut down as a result of the war.
Families have limited access to basic resources, including water. In particular, there’s no hot water, so some mothers will “gather wood or rubbish” to burn so they can boil water. Because shelters – “only around 5 to 6 metres for the whole family” – are made of plastic sheets and wood, it’s hard to keep them warm in winter or cool in summer. Lebanese authorities don’t allow them to build any further, so they remain in these very makeshift shelters.
Talking about the sleeping situation, meanwhile, she said there are only very thin mattresses on the floor. And there wouldn’t be enough space for beds anyway. She described that, in one case, a student’s father “had a scorpion sting because the tent is not safe and they sleep on the floor”.
Israel’s assault on Lebanon ‘adds more challenges and deepens trauma’
Speaking about the Israel’s offensive on Lebanon, Kharsa said:
Israeli attacks have increased fear and insecurity for everyone here. We can hear the explosions close by. We can hear the planes in the sky and the missiles. So many new displaced people arrived in this place. And the schools are full of new displaced families from other places, adding more strain on the already limited resources. This war added more challenges and deepened trauma for everyone.
She described that:
Israel is bombing Bekaa Valley too, not only the South. They are bombing everywhere, and sometimes they are bombing randomly. And we don’t know if our turn is coming. Everyone feels fear and insecurity.
Regarding the influx of new people into the local camps, she added:
The new people who are coming are a mixture of Syrian and Lebanese. They are coming from the South.
One tent, she stressed, is currently “hosting 5 or 6 families”.
Survival mode
“Most families”, she said, “worry about daily survival”, simply trying to ensure there is enough food, medicine, and warmth in winter. Sometimes, that’s simply not possibly without waiting for external aid. As she stated:
So many Syrian refugees are well educated. We have so many doctors, so many teachers, so many lawyers. But they are not given the opportunity to work. We are restricted in Lebanon. We can’t work. We can only volunteer.
And things haven’t got any better as the years have passed. “Unfortunately”, she lamented, “every year is bringing more challenges for refugees”. Some people are simply resigned to believe that this is how their lives are now. With no education or work, they’re simply in survival mode. And they no longer talk about what they personally need.
The biggest challenge today, she stressed, is that “Syrian refugees don’t have legal refugee status” in Lebanon:
We don’t have legal papers, so we don’t feel safe.
From shock to solidarity
For Kharsa, it was a real shock to live in a refugee camp after living in “a nice city and a nice house” in Damascus. There, she had her own space to read, research, and keep learning English. She now has to share a small space of around 5 meters with 6 members of her family. She also lost her teaching job, loved ones, and friends.
Moreover, she told us:
When I arrived, I think in the first month, I called some of my friends in Damascus. I told them that, here, I buried my dreams. No dreams. I’m no longer alive. Life here is filled with challenges and uncertainty.
The first year was horrible, because I kept thinking about my country and every Syrian refugee here, every one of us, was thinking that the war would last for one month only. Our parents used to tell us, don’t take anything with you. Take only the most necessary things because you are coming back in one month.
Months turned into years, and Kharsa began to take action to help her fellow refugees. She explained:
I saw so many orphans not getting their education, so my friends and I founded a small school for them near the camps. We also founded the help team through which we could reach out to so many needy families. We have very limited resources, but we could make a difference to so many refugees here.
She currently works as a school manager for refugees, and she works as part of a relief team to support the community.
Additionally, she explained that, although people feel “abandoned” and “forgotten” both locally and internationally, they come together to help each other.
For example, if someone needs medical treatment and can’t afford it, refugees will “try to raise $1 or $2 from the whole camp”. She said “there is a little support for some families from UNHCR” (the UN’s refugee agency).
Nostalgia and reality
Kharsa said:
I would love to go back to Syria. I have a deep love and nostalgia for my country, and especially for the old city and Damascus. I used to spend a long time walking. It holds my roots and memory. And Damascus is living inside my heart every day.
She continued:
There’s a big difference in Lebanon. I have visited Beirut, and it’s similar to Damascus, the same roots. But the camp is very remote. It’s very difficult. But I like Lebanon. I feel that I’m connecting to this place. And I have some memories with my friends, with the refugees, with the students, my students and the school, the orphans.
But she lamented that:
The ongoing challenges in Syria and Lebanon weigh heavily on our hearts.
Refugee education requires urgent support
Describing the situation for children in the camps, she said:
Unfortunately, refugee children here are living in small tents, small spaces. They don’t have enough space to play. They don’t have resources. They don’t have new clothing.
She explained:
We have founded for them a small school where we have 250 children that come and receive some education. Most of them are orphans. We found so many children aged 8 to 15, and are completely illiterate, and they didn’t go to schools before.
The school receives some funding from a British charity. But because of limited resources and capacity in the current building, it can’t accept all of the children who want to register. There’s a need for “urgent action” on education in the camps, and the waiting list is long.
What needs to happen for Syrian refugees in Lebanon?
Kharsa finished off with a call for support. She asserted that:
Syrian refugees have been living in our cell in the camps in inappropriate accommodations, and on the poverty line for more than 13 years. We could see many conferences and many meetings for the Syrian refugees. A lot of money was raised, and we didn’t see a solution for us.
She added:
So many families have been waiting for resettlement for more than 5 years, and our questions are not answered by UNHCR. We need a clear pathway for us. We need to know our fate – where we are going.
This is increasingly necessary not just because of the Israeli assault on Lebanon, but because the country has already been struggling with inflation since 2019. As Kharsa told us, this situation has had a knock-on effect. In particular, it means “some medicines are not available”.
She asked Canary readers to help “shed light on this crisis” that began 13 years ago but continues today. As she said:
Unfortunately, so many people in Europe, I see and I met virtually, they don’t know that there are big numbers of Syrian refugees in 2024 still living in camps of plastic sheets and wood.
She concluded:
What I told you is only maybe 1% or 2% of the challenges that all the refugees here are facing.
Featured image supplied
