OUT OF PLACE: STORIES FROM SYRIAN FAMILIES
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The City

Over 260,000 Syrians have left their homes to find refuge in Beirut, Lebanon's populous capital city. They face challenges such as living in over-crowded apartments and harassment from local Lebanese.
 Beirut is the administrative and economic capital of Lebanon. It hosts over 305,000  refugees. Nearly 9,000 refugees live in one informal settlement, one Palestine refugee camp, and three Palestinian sites located in the capital.
Click an interview excerpt below to meet one of those families.
[One day] they went to the dentist, and the next day they were buried in the garden."
                                          -The Umm-Zayn Family
Our life is just routine... there are no friends, there is nothing.”
                                          -The Abu-Kareem Family
 “[Syria?] [W]e have nothing left there anymore.”
                                            
-The Abu-Anwar Family
[Leaving] was hard. We felt like we were suffocating.”
                                            -The Umm-Taha Family
We stay in the house. We go get groceries, and only that."
                                       -The
Umm-Jamal Family
We want to tell our story, because if we don’t survive, our story will be out there.”
                                            -The Abu-Nour Family
[Leaving] was hard. We felt like we were suffocating.”
                                            -The Umm-Yaser Family
What is Beirut like?
High costs associated with urban and peri-urban life are sliding already vulnerable persons towards increasing vulnerability: rental fees are 45 per cent higher in these governorates than in other areas; average household debt is nearly 40 per cent higher than the rest of the country; and household dependency on food vouchers as the primary livelihood source more than tripled from 11 per cent to 35 per cent--a worrying trend illustrating increasing food vulnerability.

Major protection issues for refugees in Beirut include insecurity of tenure and the risk of eviction, and the lack of legal residency to remain. Humanitarian issues of note include endemic child labour and begging, increasing number of refugees renting shelter and accordant rising costs. Politically, Beirut has remained relatively stable, yet the threat of attack or instability as a result of spill-over from the conflict in Syria persists.
(Source: UNOCHA, 2016)
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This research was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Insight Development Grant (IDG) Program and Research Support Fund (RSF) at Wilfrid Laurier University.

Thank you to all the families who welcomed the research team into their homes and hearts. The research team is also grateful to the following individuals and organizations who assisted with the research: Dr. Darren Scott at McMaster University, American University Beirut, Beyond, Dar al Fatwa, Himaya, International Rescue Committee, Kayany Foundation, Save the Children, UNHCR, UNICEF.


Homepage photography © Hannah Abdoh 2017
  • Stories
    • The Valley
    • The North
    • The City
  • About
    • The Crisis
    • The Research
    • The Research Team
    • Resources
    • Contact Us