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As cold as it gets in Beirut; hail in Ashrafiyeh last night |
It’s been
seriously cold these last few days. Not cold by Dutch standards, but for us (as
in Lebanese) this is as cold as it gets. 10 degrees outside (that’s what my
thermometer says) and I doubt it is much warmer inside; most Lebanese houses
are not equipped for cold weather. I live on a rooftop, and have no central
heating system. But I am not complaining anymore.
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People bringing in matrasses with the help of volunteers |
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Bags and bags of clothing |
That is because of the
nearly one million Syrian refugees that have now flocked to Lebanon, most live
in conditions that are mind-boggling.
Spread throughout Lebanon, the majority in the north of the country and the
Beqaa Valley, over more than 250 makeshift camps, they live in tents, many of
them homemade, as the authorities just do not have the resources to provide for
all of them. They do not have indoor-plumbing and no proper heating systems; some
of them are placed in areas that are prone to flooding, and they do not have
any money themselves to organize themselves any better. No furniture, probably
no electricity either for most of them, and then to camp outside, with kids, in
this weather, is, as I said, mind-boggling.
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Volunteers received the goods |
But the cold
front these past three days (it hailed in Ashrafiya last night!) has definitely
helped them in the sense that people suddenly realize they have to do
something. If it is cold in your house, than how cold must it be in a tent?
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Matrasses and blankets went to War Child Holland |
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The clothes go to Sawa for Syria |
There’s
loads of initiatives all over town, for blankets, mattresses, clothes and money
donations and when I dropped off the family’s clothes that have become too
small, obsolete or out of fashion (imagine the luxury of that statement!) on a parking lot near Biel for War Child Holland and Sawa for Syria, I was pleasantly surprised to see a steady stream of people carrying bags
and bags of goods in. Plenty of volunteers were sorting the bags into bins labeled
with ‘men’, ‘boys’, ‘shoes’ and the like. They will all be brought to the
makeshift camps.
It’s not going
to help these refugees on the long run; politics is going to have to solve that
problem. But for the meantime, it seems there will be some relief.
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