A Syrian refugee in Lebanon
Abdul al Moamen (aged 10) ©Paddy Dowling
Several days ago I watched a documentary piece on Channel 4 News and ever since I have been struggling to get it out my head. It concerned the plight of Syrian refugees.
As you may or may not be aware, the Syrian crisis has spawned more than six million refugees - desperate people fleeing for their lives from unspeakable horrors. Though some have made it to western countries, the vast majority find themselves in refugee camps closer to home - in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon.
At the start of this month, a small Channel 4 team made their way through the snowy hills of Lebanon to a remote camp where freezing families live in tents and cardboard shelters. The refugees have little food and limited access to firewood, electricity or reliable piped water.
They are also short of another important necessity - hope. It feels as if the world has abandoned them even after being driven from their homes and all that they had known by the brutal Bashar Hafez al-Assad - a cruel wolf dressed in sheep's clothing.
The part of the video that really struck home for me was when Abdullah, the father of a large Syrian family, carved up nylon insulation tiles. to put in his small iron stove to create some heat for his wife and children in their. sopping wet tent. Of course, such fuel is dangerous because as well as providing some heat, it also creates toxic fumes. These were being breathed in by a coughing baby of six weeks and Abdullah's young toddler had several swollen burns on his hands through reaching out to touch the stove.
Another crushed father, Hassan, said, "Our future has gone. There is nothing."
We don't hear much about Syrian refugees in the TV news these days. Years are passing by and the refugees remain massed in desperate camps, struggling to survive with minimal support from aid agencies and the international community. These poor Syrian people were driven from their own ruined country to find sanctuary elsewhere and what have the majority found? Hopelessness, that's all. Meanwhile...
The Presidential Palace just outside Damascus, Syria
It's sadly all part of that ever-changing news cycle, where they air one story ad nauseum for weeks, and then shove it aside for 424/7 coverage of the newest thing.
ReplyDeleteIt breaks my heart.
It is as if they get bored with topics after a few days or maybe it is the public who want regular refreshment - new stories, new images.
DeleteIt may sound heartless but individuals can do so little and I just can't watch such footage.
ReplyDeleteYou could donate a few Aussie dollars to a suitable charity. Every little counts.
DeleteI wish there was something concrete I could do to make even a tiny difference. I would even be willing to host a small family in my home to help them assimilate into this community if there were some way to make that happen. We have so much here--it's simply not fair that by an accident of birth some people must endure these horrors and others, no more deserving, lead lives of ease and safety and plenty.
ReplyDeleteYou are right. The injustice is so plain to see. Shirley and I would also be prepared to do what you suggest. Supporting refugee charities with a bit of money does not seem enough.
DeleteI read a novel a couple of years ago about a couple who left Syria to journey to Yorkshire, in the hope of a new life there. (The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri) I remember it being a very difficult story to read... and it was fiction! The real life horrors are unimaginable.
ReplyDeleteI should read that. In fact I bought if for my sister-in-law as a Christmas gift.
DeleteI just do not know what to say about this post, we are all human and any one of us could have been born into the life that these refugees have to deal with. What humans do to other humans is beyond me and I can't understand it.
ReplyDeleteAt least animals deal with things quickly and efficiently but humans seem to be able to see others suffer and care not.
Of course I do not speak for all humans there are some good among us.
You are right Briony. There are many good people doing their best to help while leaders turn a blind eye to it all.
DeleteThis situation doesn't get much publicity anymore. the refugees got some bad press a few years ago. However humans should not have to live like this. they don't get much support from other countries.
ReplyDeleteLebanon is itself an economically broken country. How can it provide for 1.5 million Syrian refugees living within its borders?
DeleteI would willingly support refugee charities if i could be assured that at least 80% of the donation was going to the people in need of it. Perhaps someone should investigate where the bulk of the aid money goes...how every donated dollar (or pound) is divided up.
ReplyDeleteI worked as a shop assistant for Oxfam for five years. This is how Oxfam funds are divided - for every £1 Oxfam receives, 84p goes on emergency, development and campaigning work, 9p is spent on support and running costs and 7p is invested to generate future income.
DeleteThere is an ever-growing Syrian community in my town, as in many others in Germany. My downstairs neighbour is a young man who has fled Syria, as well as the man on the other side of the street who used to live in that same downstairs flat until he found the one he is in now. This young man is a shining example of successful integration. He arrived here with no knowledge of the German language. Now he has learnt a trade at a company in Ludwigsburg, found a flat, owns a car and can send money to those of his relatives who still live in Syria.
ReplyDeleteHe must miss his family terribly, but he has been doing everything he could in order to well and truly arrive in this country. When I celebrated my 50th birthday at the pub in 2018, he was one of my 63 guests.
For those poor people in the camps, there really seems to be no hope. Often, charity and help organisations can not even get there, and the goods they send are snatched by others.
I still wonder how anyone would want to have even more children under such circumstances. That baby of six weeks and the toddler make me think.
Mrs Merkel and The German Nation deserve enormous praise for their efforts to help many thousands of Syrian refugees to settle in Germany. A better record than almost any other European nation - perhaps with the exception of Sweden.
DeleteThe tragedy is that few countries want to accept these poor people into their community. Their plight has become a seven-day wonder, like so many things to be tutted over then forgotten as something more attention grabbing takes it's place. Perhaps we should forget the expensive time wasting meetings about climate control which achieve nothing, and focus on providing refugees with food, medical care, a decent roof over their heads, and hope for the future.
ReplyDeleteI tend to agree with you Carol. It is outrageous that that little baby should be breathing in toxic fumes and that that little boy should have burn scars on his hands. A TV crew comes in and afterwards their plight is ignored once again.
DeleteI try not to pay attention to such stories. I know there are many and I feel for them, but I also know there is nothing I can do. Watching the stories just makes me sad.
ReplyDeleteThere is something that you can do River. Give money to a refugee charity. Every little helps.
DeleteI used to donate when I was working, but not now that I am retired and on an age pension.
DeleteWell I do donate, last week to UNHCR for the Afghanistan people, they are starving whilst Biden keeps hold of the money to help them. But as we all say news is always filled up with trivia and gossip. The warmongers in our Western countries should storm Assad in his citadel. Let us be honest, money is always falling into the hands of the corrupt and our concern for all those refugees is soon forgotten except by NGOs.
ReplyDeleteTwo or three British newspapers have been filled with news of the war of words between two footballers' wives while millions of Syrian refugee stories remain unwritten.
DeleteHave you heard "Refugee" by Kansas YP? It's on good old You Tube.
ReplyDeleteI will seek it out. How much do Kansas pay you for promoting them?
DeleteI have been pondering a great deal lately about how we just want to avoid the things that make us uncomfortable. I am so very guilty of that. The governor of our state is trying to push a bill that would make it impermissible to teach students about our past history that might make them uncomfortable. Like, you know- slavery and racism. This enrages me. We should feel uncomfortable. And we should feel very uncomfortable about refugees who have lost everything and who are now losing their lives. The older I get, the more overwhelmed by all of it I am.
ReplyDeleteDeSantis sounds like a proper arsehole (American: asshole). Most of his views seem to be aligned with Trump's outlook. Frighteningly, he could be the next Republican president.
DeleteOne should first go to www.give.org before giving any money to charities destined for the destitute of Syria. There have been lots of articles written about how money given to charities attempting to help those in government controlled portions of Syria are actually just funding the government causing the problems. There are also dozens of scam sites attempting to cash in as well. www.give.org has more strict measures used to sort out the wheat from the chaff to ensure the money gets where it is needed most.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is important to give to bona fide charities that can more or less guarantee that public donations will be targeted correctly.
DeleteYou've inspired me to research an organization where my donation will do the most good. Some are definitely better than others. I have this lovely daydream that I could swoop into a refugee camp and distribute warm blankets, food and other needed supplies. I like to believe we'd all do more if we were physically able to help. It's easier to close our minds to the hardships of others when the support we can give is less tangible.
ReplyDeleteI have a dream of driving to Lebanon and bringing Abdullah and his entire family back to our house in England.
DeleteIt is not right that people experience such hatred in their own countries and are forced to live in dire conditions often in fear of their life. (My own father was a refugee (kindertransport) in 1939 from Germany and escaped by the skin of his teeth. He was only allowed to stay here for a year. Thankfully the war came along and he was able to stay.) These things are usually the result of differences in religion or greed for what someone else has. I despair of human nature sometimes.
ReplyDeleteIf you blogged about your father's story before, I am afraid I cannot remember it. Thank heavens he found sanctuary in England.
DeleteIf you want to read more, look up 16 October 2008 in my archive.
DeleteI have now read that post ADDY. Very moving. I was wondering: Do you know where the farm was that your father worked on when he first arrived in England? Have you been there?
Delete