Since the outbreak of the Syrian crisis in 2011, more than 1 million Syrians have sought refuge in neighboring Lebanon to escape the fighting. Most of them live in refugee camps in the Bekaa Valley near the border between the two countries. Recently, a reporter from the head office went to the Bekaa Valley to investigate the living conditions of refugees on the spot.
Issa, from Deir ez-Zor, Syria, lives in the same tent with her parents, brother, wife and nine children.
Syrians who have obtained refugee status can receive food from UNHCR’s local agencies, and each family can also receive a certain allowance, but this is not enough to support the whole family. Issa relied on odd jobs to supplement her family, but it was normal for her to make ends meet. The winter that just passed was extremely cold, and the Issa family had to rely on firewood for heating, because diesel was too expensive.
When the reporter asked about Issa’s future plans, he said he wanted to go home.
Issa, a Syrian refugee: No one wants to go back to their hometown, which is always the best place for me. There is no need to pay to rent tents, life is not so miserable, the children can play freely, and here the children are like prison, we have no money to let the children go out.
Headquarters reporter Ci Xiaoning: Lebanon is the country that accepts the most refugees per capita in the world. Lebanon is going through the worst economic crisis in the country’s history, with 90 percent of Syrian refugees currently living in Lebanon living in extreme poverty, according to United Nations figures. (Headquarters reporter Ci Xiaoning)