Crisis in Lebanon: an update from our partners

7/9/2021

We updated you recently on the good news that the children are back to school in Lebanon and learning again after months of closures and disruption due to Covid-19. But, the current economic and political climate in Lebanon continues to be increasingly difficult. We spoke to Nuna Matar from our partner organisation this week who gave us an update on what’s happening in the country and how it’s affecting their work.

We work with our partner organisation, Triumphant Mercy to support education and vocational training for 300 Syrian refugees living in informal settlements in Bekaa Valley in Lebanon. They attend a specially built school in Zahle and are taught by trained Syrian refugee teachers in their own dialect, following a bespoke Syrian - Lebanese curriculum.

Nuna Matar from Triumphant Mercy spoke to us this week to update us on the current situation in Lebanon...

What is happening in Lebanon right now?

Lebanon has faced years of discontent and protests against economic turmoil, corruption and mismanagement in the government. Currently over 50% of Lebanese citizens are living in poverty and the large refugee and migrant worker populations have been hit the hardest. The country is in economic turmoil.

The Lebanese government resigned last summer amidst public anger after the devastating Port explosion on August 4th 2020 that killed 200 people and injured thousands more.

At the time, Lebanon was not only trying to prevent the spread of Covid-19; it was also in the midst of an unprecedented economic crisis. Tens of thousands of people have been pushed into poverty in recent years and the country was facing skyrocketing debt and high unemployment rates. All of which prompted large anti-government protests, even before the pandemic and Port Blast; perceived by many to be the result of years of corruption and mismanagement.

Since 2019, the Lebanese pound has lost 90 percent of its value, and annual inflation in 2020 was 84.9 percent. According to government statistics, the price of consumer goods has nearly quadrupled in the past two years. With the economy collapsing, the country is now facing shortages of food, fuel and medicine.

How has this affected your work?

In recent months, the fuel crisis has affected transportation for the school we support in Zahle. The Syrian refugee children who attend the school are picked up by bus from the camps in Bekaa Valley and driven to the central school building in Zahle. We have had to rearrange a number of classes simply to allow our bus drivers enough time to wait in line for petrol, which is currently taking around 4 hours.

As a contingency plan, we bought a small fuel reservoir and we bought some fuel some time ago that they are now using for the drivers. We are trying to control consumption as much as possible, but if fuel doesn’t become easily available again soon, I’m not sure what we’ll do to get children to and from the school.

Electricity is only available for 2 hours a day across the country; those who have generators are rationing during the day so they can keep providing power at night. Obviously the generators rely on fuel; which is becoming increasingly hard to come by. With power cuts in the daytime, it’s not possible for people to do anything.

Local businesses are really suffering; coffee shops, hairdressers, restaurants - all rely on power. More and more people are facing poverty and struggling, with no real solution on the horizon.

The Community Centre we support in Beirut can’t currently work online, and rely on laptops that don’t maintain sufficient battery power to last long. There is no A/C or fans, making it hard to work and be in the heat. As I write to you, I am sitting at my desk, with no electricity, linking my laptop to my phone for data in order to communicate with you. All in the stifling heat.

The school in Zahle had previously not struggled with power cuts as the electricity in this region was privatised and not linked to the main Lebanese electricity supplier. But because power cuts are now nationwide, with only 2 hours being made available each day, people in this area haven’t been prepared with generators to supply backup power, so they are really struggling right now.

The vocational training courses we offer in the school, like sewing and carpentry rely on power to go ahead, so the team have been changing the schedules according to how much power they have available; which is hugely limited.

I am now looking to buy our own generators for the school in Zahle and the community centres we support in Beirut. But I worry about how I’ll supply them with fuel.

How do you feel about the coming weeks and months?

The current crisis in Lebanon is extremely worrying, but we are doing everything we can to ensure the children we support can keep learning and thriving. We are excited to have enrolled a new 9th grade class and pre-9th grade class (getting students ready to enroll in 9th grade next year). We have also made more places available on this programme to allow for new students to join, after passing an initial exam.

This is a really important part of our programme; allowing Syrian refugees to return to Syria to take their 9th grade exams which would mean they can continue education in Syria if and when a return home is possible. The most recent class that returned to take their exams had a 100% pass rate - we are the only school in Lebanon to achieve this.

The school in Zahle is still open and has just started their new year curriculum after a one week break to allow the children to make the transition to a new school year. We have opened up two new classes too.

Grade Nine Graduation Ceremony

Nuna and her team at our partner organisation are showing incredible resilience and commitment in the face of extreme adversity and economic instability. Keep an eye on our Latest Stories for further updates or sign up for our email updates to get the latest news straight to your inbox.

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Children on the Edge has been supporting education for 300 Syrian refugee children since 2015. Initially based in four tent schools, we now have one central building in Zahle. This work is kindly funded by the Players of the People's Postcode Lottery.