‘Because My Humanity is Bound up in Yours’

One hot summer day in the middle of September, I requested a vehicle from World Vision. When my request was granted, I entered the car, turned on the air conditioning and drove straight to the Bekaa Valley, in northeast Lebanon. The drive took me around one and a half hours. As a communications officer at World Vision, my goal was to speak with numerous Syrian refugee families benefitting from the Lebanon Cash Consortium.

Moutibah was one of the people I had the privilege of meeting.

She is a mother of five, and a wife of none.

Upon my arrival, I took my shoes off out of respect before entering the tent. That room was where they did everything. They ate there, they slept there and they kept each other company there.

As I entered Moutibahs’ tent, she seemed distant and reserved. I got the feeling that she was frightened to speak with me. But, I was wrong, this was just the beginning of what turned out to be what I like to call a heart-to-heart conversation.

Moutibah was wearing a black veil on her head with a washed-out turquoise abaya. It was herself, and two of five children, Ahmad and Otour, sitting in the tent when I had arrived. Otour was wearing a pajama ensemble, thick blue wool, the type one would wear on a cold winter night. Ahmad was also wearing a jumper, but thinner than that of his younger sister Otour,with ragged blue jeans to match.  They were dressed in winter attire and they were all wearing long sleeve, blue jumpers, almost as if they matched purposefully. They were also all barefoot, like me.

I could not begin to apprehend how they could endure the heat and humidity without air-conditioning, let alone wearing long, thick jumpers when it was 34 degrees Celsius outside.

I had to ask. I looked at Ahmad and said: “Are you not HOT in those long sleeves?Why don’t you pull them up to your elbows - that might cool you down a little?” 

Bit by bit they began feeling more comfortable speaking with me. Otour smiled and said: “No, we’re not hot. We got used to it.”

Ahmad stared back at me with his dark brown eyes and explained, “even if I wanted to pull them up, I would dirty my hands, they will become all black and I cannot shower much.”

The humble family had been benefitting from the Lebanon Cash Consortium (LCC) for seven months.

What is the Lebanon Cash Consortium (LCC)?

The LCC is a group of six international NGO’s who came together for a better cause. A cause that has been long lost. A cause that has been underestimated and taken way too lightly. Way too lightly until today. Way too lightly until the horrifying photo of that innocent little boy’s lifeless body on a Turkish beach went viral.

The LCC is comprised of:ACTED, Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE), International Rescue Committee (IRC), Save the Children (SC), SOLIDARITES INTERNATIONAL (SI), and World Vision (WV). It came together to provide multi-purpose cash assistance to Syrian refugees in each of the agencies’ respective areas across Lebanon.  Families are selected based on vulnerability and receive $175 (USD) cash assistance each month to help them meet their basic food and non-food needs.

Moutibah and her children fled Syria at night, illegally, together with about 20 other people fleeing the violence. They began their journey by foot. They walked until they could not feel their feet. After that, they continued their 20 hour voyage to Lebanon by car, through the path of Ersel, a dangerous route occupied by a multitude of checkpoints.

How could one ever prepare for a journey such as this one?

When they arrived in Lebanon they felt both overwhelmed and relieved.

Overwhelmed, and shaken by the harsh travel circumstances that come with fleeing a war. Relieved to finally reach some sort of safety.

They had nothing to eat, nothing to drink.

Moutibah has five children. Three girls and two sweet little boys. She devotes most of the cash assistance from the LCC to her son, Ahmad. He has asthma. In addition to purchasing his asthma inhalers, she sometimes has to rush him to the hospital for oxygen. The recent sandstorm that hit Lebanon almost killed him. “The LCC is my sons’ life,” she says.“Without it, only God knows what will happen. Without it, I would have to borrow money from the neighbours and end up forever in debt. How could I ever repay any money I would borrow?” she says.

Some days, Ahmad is fine. Other days his wheezing and coughing at night keeps even the neighbours in nearby tents awake.

Like every mother, Moutibah tries her best to make sure her childrens’ childhoods’ are not completely compromised and disrupted. Naturally, she does not want her children to remain deeply traumatised by the aftermath of a war. She dreams of a normal life for her children, but what is “normal”?

“Normal” is far-fetched right now.

In Ramadan, Moutibah managed to buy her children a few items of clothes and some cheap sweets, so that they do not feel yet another harsh Ramadan five years into the crisis. “Those were not the “iftars” (this is the name of the meal that breaks the fast during Ramadan) that we had hoped for, she said. Those were not the iftars anyone could ever hope for, especially after a whole day of fasting. To break the fast, some days all I had was rice to boil.”

Ahmad wants to go to school and become a teacher when he grows up. But, instead of going to school, he plays with his siblings and friends during the day. His favorite activity is to play on the blue slide that was found close to their tent, while Otours’ favorite activity is playing hide and seek in-between the tents.

“Hamdilla” (thanks to God) says Moutibah, “Circumstances are far from ideal, but we are forever thankful for this assistance that the LCC has provided us with. Circumstances have improved for us because of this assistance. It is our only income. It makes all the difference. Thank you!”

Soon enough the long winter nights away from home will be back.

Maybe the Syria crisis is a wakeup call. Maybe it is a wakeup call to all fellow humans.

Maybe it is a wakeup call for us to remember that we are all in this together, hand in hand because our nationalities do not separate us. When a nation is at war and needs a helping hand, we reach out and we give it to them. And when lives are at stake, we do everything in our power to contribute to their safety.

Life is too short to be brought up in a world where we value ourselves more than we value our neighbours.  The war in Syria will not end once guns stop firing, it will end when the people of Syria can go back to the place they once called home and be safe.

With initiatives such as the Lebanon Cash Consortium, we make the world a better place.

Let us contribute to humanity together.

Let us write this story of resilience together.

Because my friends:

"My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together." - Desmond Tutu