Farooq al-Sayed, his wife and their three children left their house in Nahriyeh for a camp in Arsal, just across the Lebanese border, in April. He says they fled when Hezbollah fighters stormed their village.
Three families share a one-room house. A donated television and a rusted crib for Mohammed, Mr. Sayed’s youngest son, are among a few things the family currently possesses. The mattresses that they sleep on are are placed against the walls during the day. There is no kitchen or bathroom.
Two of Mr. Sayed’s brothers were killed in the war. One of his wife’s brothers was also killed. Her other brother, Mohammed, 22, joined the rebels last December, but was shot in the leg by a sniper.
Mr. Sayed’s family
Living in the camp
Photo unavailable
Mohammed,
wounded
fighting
Mohammed
Fatmeh
Om Mohammed
Farooq
SIBLINGS
cousins
Ahmad, fighting
in Syria
Faiz, fighting
in Syria
Mahmoud,
killed fighting
Photo unavailable
Photo unavailable
Photo unavailable
Nagat
Mohamed,
killed fighting
Alla, killed
fighting
Mustafa
COUPLE
KHALED’S CHILDREN
Khaled,
not alive
Mr. Sayed says he is waiting for the violence to subside before returning home. A driver in his hometown, he now depends on handouts to support his family.
Bassam Rifai, 54, a civil engineer, moved to Lebanon from Damascus in May, leaving behind his house and his contracting company. His wife and daughters came two months later. The family decided to make Beirut their new home.
Unlike many other Syrian refugees, the Rifais can support themselves. Mr. Rifai still works as a contractor, and the family lives comfortably. Their son, Shoueb, had already been living in the Lebanon since last year.
Diana Rifai, 23, just graduated from college. She has helped raise money for other refugees. “She doesn’t like to brag,” says her brother about her volunteer work, “but there are at least three newborns in North Lebanon named after her.”
Aum Nabeel, a mother of three, asked for her real name not to be published. Neighbors rescued her and her family from the rubble of their house in Homs when it was shelled in the summer of 2012. They moved in with cousins in a Damascus suburb, but it became too dangerous there as well. In January, they all fled to Lebanon.
Aum Nabeel described her family’s situation: “The panic, the fear, the rockets that fell on us, it was horror.” Her husband has tried to find odd jobs. But he suffers from a mental illness, and his condition worsened after he saw body parts of murdered relatives on the street. Their family needs food and medicine.
Aum Nabeel’s main concern is the education of her children, who have been out of school for two years. “I told my daughter to read, but she didn’t know how. All of those children used to know how to read. But now they don’t.”
From Damascus area
From Homs
1
With wife and
five children
7
With wife and
two children
4
With husband
and three
children
5
NEPHEW
BROTHERS
cousins
Seventeen of Aum Nabeel’s relatives
live in the Anjer camp
TRIPOLI
BEIRUT
DAMASCUS
HOMS
SYRIA
LEBANON
ANJER
Emad, 18, a hairdresser, is one of Aum Nabeel’s relatives in the camp. His parents ordered him to leave Syria when they learned that he had joined a local rebel group. He regrets leaving his comrades behind. “I was hoping to be martyred, but thankfully God united me with my uncles.”