Lebanon: Syrian Self Immolation

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SYRIAN REFUGEES IN LEBANON RESORT TO DESPERATION AS THEIR NUMBERS GROW WITH DECREASING ASSISTANCE 

by: Ashley Gallagher Photographer: Melinda Trochu 

(screen grabs from Video PKG)

(TRIPOLI) The Lebanese army and security forces implemented new plans for increased security, more troops are patrolling the border as sectarian violence breaks out and more refugees are pouring int. Clashes in the region have been common among sectarian groups coming from Syria into the country. 
Refugees in Lebanon reached one million late last week and the situation is getting more desperate. Taking over nearly a quarter of the population, Syrians have gathered in a country no bigger than the size of Connecticut. 

 The government does not allow official refugee camps to be set up and refugees are often left to small villages on privately owned land, which could be repossessed at any time. 

At a hospital in Tripoli, Miriam al Kahwli lies helplessly with nearly 70% of her body burned after she set her self on fire two weeks ago. She went to the UNHCR, seeking food and aid for her four children. 

But when they turned her away, her husband, Ahmad al Kahwli tells us, she felt ashamed and bought fuel to ignite her own body. Ahmad says the UN stopped giving them aid "six months ago." They were living in a small village in Tripoli and he is not able to work. "They didn't tell what the reason was, just that there isn't any aid," Ahmed's frustration is evident, "I am from Syria, I have nothing, what am I supposed to do?" 


Miriam felt she had been "burned" on the inside by the UN and was desperate to feed their four children. Refugees in Lebanon understand Miriam's plight. 

They know her story and they feel sorry for her. They too are struggling to survive in make-shift camps and feeling neglected by aid groups. 

One woman, Alia says they feel abandoned by the entire international community,"Why don't they want to care about what the Syrian people are suffering? Those inside Syria are dying, those outside of Syria are being humiliated." 

Another man said two months ago he went to a hospital - his 2 year old daughter had cancer, diagnosed before he left Syria and when she got sick, he sought help. But he says, the hospital turned them away and his daughter died. 

Dana Suilamen from the UNHCR says there just "isn't enough to meet every single need." Last summer, the UN and the World Food Program conducted research analysis to show those refugees most dire and had to reassess who would get food, medical and financial aid. 

But it doesn't mean they've been forgotten says, Suilamen, "If people are excluded based on this vulnerability assessment of food assistance it doesn't mean it doesn't mean they've been crossed out of the UNHCR" 

Suileman says refugees can still go to their protective services and seek out shelter and basic medical care, they can petition and still get some help.  

Aid groups in Lebanon are struggling for support. The Lebanese government does not have programs to assist them. Recently Foreign Minister, Gibran Basil requested help from other Arab neighbors for tighter security along the Syrian border. The government is afraid of shifting the sectarian balance. 

The land the Syrians live on is owned privately and while the UN is able to help Syrians set up temporary living, private owners could repossess the land. Alia tells us "no one collects rent," but it is a hard life - and they are afraid they will be kicked out. 


Meanwhile, Ahmad al Kahwli waits while his wife suffers, struggling to breathe, speak and survive. Ahmad says the UN shut the door on this wife and now with Miriam's body burned so badly - and no money to pay for surgery and treatment, her road to recovery will be much longer. 

Nurses care for her the best the can and say she will need multiple surgeries. But where will the money come from? The Nurses who care for Miriam say they hope donors will help, but they are skeptical. Meantime, there is only so much they can do. 

 Ahmad says the only thing he can do is pray, "God will help us."

Syrian Stories Part II

Getting him to tell me his story was a little like pulling teeth. But I was understanding, I don't know if he saw it that way. The only thing that mattered was the story, right? Well if he was the story, then he is what mattered. He believed me enough.

He fled from Syria, at his father's request. He was from Latakia. And for the most part, so it seemed, it was a city that had yet to be bombarded by the civil conflict. But he didn't realize that even the Human Rights Watch recently reported government forces torturing male victims in the city's detention centers. He thought his family had nothing to worry about, but he didn't know that victims from Latakia were reporting their families were threatened and beaten. 

Initially he wanted to connect me with 2-of his friends, who he later said in a text message would refuse to give talk about their story. He didn't think his own was significant, but after assuring him I wouldn't use his name, he agreed to tell me more. Then he was afraid his English wouldn't be good enough. He tries hard and often looses the words he wants to communicate. I told him to communicate in Arabic. He did. 

He told me that he had money to get through the border, that someone he knew was able to get him across without any trouble. But he is continuing to borrow money from his father and doesn't know what he'll do next. He's been here a month, he said, and was staying at a hotel that he only had to pay around 300 dollars a week, but it was getting tiresome because he wasn't always eating. He got up and often wonders the city, walks by the Sea and then off to bar where he can get a beer before going back to his room. He thought about going to a church where they were helping Syrians and feeding them everyday but he didn't think God would like for him to be in a church. He only liked Jesus when things were ok, and right now? They are not. Going to the UNHCR frightens him to, no amount of assuring would rescue his anxiety. What if they were to send him back, he asks me. He's not sure he can go and ask for their help. 

He was waiting, he told me, for an invitational letter from his relative to France. Once he received this letter, he could apply for a visitor's Visa to the country. But it had not come yet, and he was starting to debate whether or not he wanted to go to France. What would he do there? What if he stayed longer than his Visa and got caught? He'd be deported, he would be forced to fight in the war. He doesn't want to, he's terrified. He's never been attacked, he's never been in trouble with authorities. Even so, he's afraid, more than he's ever been. 

He's a refugee without status, without a job, without hope, and time is running out.