March 15 marked the sixth year since the start of the Syrian war. Lebanon, being a small Middle Eastern country facing constant political and national unity challenges with a population of approximately 450,000 Palestinian and Iraqi refugees, has been the shelter for more than two million registered Syrian refugees since 2011. The number of Palestinian, Iraqi and Syrian refugees is estimated to be at a percentage of 32% of the Lebanese population, if not more.
Mira Neaimeh is from Lebanon. She is a member of the Orthodox Youth Movement and of the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF), and was one of the speakers of a World Council of Churches (WCC) co-sponsored side event ‚Empowering Refugee Women and Children through Education and Employment’ at the 61st session of the Commission on the Status of Women held in New York on March 13-24.
In her presentation, Neaimeh highlighted the role of faith-based communities in providing aid to the refugees.
As the present Syrian crisis is still developing and spilling into Lebanon. Over the past six years, Lebanon is now the home of more than 3,000 Syrian Christian refugee families. Local churches are working more to reach beyond their comfort zones and social boundaries to help the refugees.
Following the occupation of Lebanon by Syria for 30 years, every Lebanese family, including Neaimeh’s, has stories of their homes being destroyed, family members killed and kidnapped. Thus, the decision by a handful of Lebanese Christians, including priests, practitioners and believers to reach out to Syrian refugees in Lebanon meant being able to forget the past and go on with what faith dictates and humanity loudly utters.
„Even if you decide, on a personal level, to help, you will face some major disagreement from your surroundings, such as family, neighbors and others in the same community, regarding your decision“, said Neaimeh, sharing the example of one church where 85% of the members left because the priest decided to help the refugees.
Regardless of all the opposition, churches have decided to make their premises places of compassion for people of any faith to ind help in the midst of the crisis.
„Christian refugee families have access to rented homes, sometimes with multiple families in a single home or a set of rooms. Although they are living in houses, these families lack the very basics of daily life, such as food, educational opportunities for their children and medical care“. „Churches are helping the refugees pay their rent, and ind work for the young men and adults, given that they are skilled laborers“, she said.