Lebanon

Lebanon: Healing those deeply affected

07 February 2012

Mahmoud Abou Hamdi, social worker at MSF going to visit a patient in Burj el-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon

Lebanon: Healing those deeply affected Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has been providing mental healthcare in two refugee camps in Lebanon for the past three years, both to Palestinian refugees and to vulnerable Lebanese in the area. Now MSF has opened a new project in northern Lebanon, following the arrival of 4,500 Syrians who have fled the unrest in their country. Bruno Jochum, General Director of MSF, is just back from the region. Mahmoud Abou Hamdi, social worker at MSF going to visit a patient in Burj el-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon. Photo: Dina Debbas Why is MSF working in Lebanon? ...

“I’m a guest here.” Ahmed, 72-year-old Palestinian refugee

22 February 2011

“I’m a guest here.” Ahmed, 72-year-old Palestinian refugee

Lebanon: Testimonies from patients in Burj el-Barajneh Ahmed Photo: Dina Debba Twenty years ago, when she first moved in, Itaf, aged 54, could see the airport from her house. Today it is no longer visible - the view is blocked by buildings that jostle for space in the densely-packed Burj el-Barajneh camp. Houses grow ever taller, as extra storeys are added to ease the overcrowding below. Burj el-Barajneh can only grow upwards, as its boundaries have been enveloped by the ever-expanding suburbs of the capital, Beirut. Itaf lives here with her 72-year old husband, Ahmed, and she tells the story of how he arrived here over 60 years ago. “Ahmed left Palestine on 15 May 1948, when he was just 10. After a long journey, with many...

Lebanon: “Precarious living conditions make daily life a struggle in Burj el-Barajneh”

22 February 2011

Lebanon: “Precarious living conditions make daily life a struggle in Burj el-Barajneh”

Mahmoud Abou Hamdi social worker at MSF with Amneh 60 yrs old during an outreach visit. Photo: Dina Debbas Since the end of 2008, MSF has been running a mental health programme for the most vulnerable Palestinian and Lebanese people in and around Burj el-Barajneh camp in Lebanon. Over the past two years, more than 1,000 people have been treated in the programme, which is based on a community approach, bringing together psychiatric and psychological care with social and community support to foster good mental health. Millions of Palestinian refugees still live in camps, where – more than 60 years after being forced to leave their homes – they face a future of seemingly unending exile. More than 200,000...

Living with a fragile mind

22 February 2011

Living with a fragile mind

Squeezed between the airport and Beirut’s southern suburbs, Burj el-Barajneh camp is the capital’s most densely populated area, home to some 18,000 people living in a space of just one square kilometre. Many of the camp’s residents have been deeply affected by successive wars and conflict; their prospects for the future are bleak; employment is hard to come by; and most suffer difficult living conditions and a precarious socio-economic situation. Since the end of 2008, MSF has been running a mental health programme for the most vulnerable Palestinian and Lebanese people in and around Burj el-Barajneh camp in Lebanon. Over the past two years, more than 1,000 people have been treated in the programme, which is based on...

“Life… which life do you mean?” Yassin, 67

22 February 2011

“Life… which life do you mean?” Yassin, 67

Yassin Photo: Dina Debbas “I have just come back from my visit to the physiotherapist; a small local organisation is paying for my treatment here. I still have problems with my hip. I was wounded in an Israeli bombardment from the sea. It was in 1982, but I can remember every detail of that day: the dead, the wounded, the heads on the ground. We didn’t think it would be possible, that they would attack us from the sea. We knew bombs would be dropped, but we didn’t know when or from where. Then the attack started, with shells exploding. I can’t help remembering the mutilated bodies of my friends, the blood, the smell – it’s still all there, in my head. I got pieces of shrapnel in my knee, my ankle,...

Hakim: “Living conditions are very difficult; I don’t think there’s anyone who finds them tolerable.”

22 February 2011

Living conditions are very difficult; I don’t think there’s anyone who finds them tolerable

Photo: Dina Debbas I am a Lebanese of Palestinian origin – I was naturalised in 1948. I am divorced and have two daughters from my previous marriage. They both go to school. I moved to the camp three-and-a-half years ago after I lost my job and my financial situation deteriorated. Living conditions here are very difficult; I don’t think there’s anyone who finds them tolerable. Houses are overcrowded and built close together; zinc roofs cause temperatures to rise in summer and drop sharply in winter; the infrastructure is nearly non-existent; and there is very little privacy in people’s personal lives, which makes everyone seem short-tempered. Sometimes, when someone says hello, you want to start a fight with...