LEBANON / GUTERRES

While visiting Lebanon as part of a two day visit to the region for World Refugee Day (Jun 20), Antonio Guterres UN High Commissioner for Refugees met with Ihsan, first-year medical student from Syria, who has lost his leg during shelling in Damascus where he was volunteering to help his countrymen caught up in the conflict. After getting medical treatment and prosthesis in Lebanon, Ihsan is volunteering to help Syrians once again. UNHCR

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:20
• Production Date: 19 June 2014
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES - UNHCR
• Subject Topical: PEACE AND SECURITY; REFUGEES; DISPLACED PERSONS; DISASTER PREVENTION; DISASTER PREPAREDNESS; DISASTER RELIEF
• Geographic Subject: LEBANON; SYRIA
• MAMS Id: 1127263

Description

STORY: LEBANON / GUTERRES
TRT: 2.20
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 19 JUNE 2014. BEKAA, LEBANON

Shotlist

1. Various shots, Ihsan in his room working on the laptop
2. Various shots, Ihsan putting on a prosthesis on his leg
3. Med shot, Ihsan walking out of the room
4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic), Ihsan, refugee and volunteer
“This is our cause. We have a cause of helping poor people…Wherever we are, we are there to help.”
5. Med shot, Ihsan walking down the stairs and out of the building
6. Med shot, Gutterres and Ihsan shaking hands
7. Various shots, Gutterres and Ihsan talking
8. SOUNDBITE (English), Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees:
“I think we feel extremely inspired looking at the difficulties these people face and how they are able, in these dramatic circumstances, to simply devote their lives to support those that are even more vulnerable is a lesson of a solidarity and generosity that should inspire us all.”
9. Various shots, Ihsan on the terrace

Storyline

Ihsan is refugee from Syria who is working as a volunteer for UNHCR in Lebanon, where he helps identify needs among fellow refugees.

Back home, Ihsan was a student of dentistry from the outskirts of Damascus. During the conflict, he was a volunteer in Syria, helping identify the needs of Syrians caught up in fighting.

He was wounded when a bomb fell near his home. Doctors had to amputate his left leg above the knee. After leaving Syria for Lebanon, where he obtained prosthesis through the assistance of UNHCR and the NGO Handicap International, he continues to volunteer to help his people.

While visiting Lebanon as part of a two day visit to the region for World Refugee Day (Jun 20), Antonio Guterres UN High Commissioner for Refugees met with Ihsan.

Refugee volunteers like Ihsan, said Guterres, are playing an increasingly important role in responding to the crisis.

Ihsan, was in his first year of dentistry school when the war broke out in Syria.

Someday he says he hopes to return to his studies and to Syria itself

In the meantime, he helps where he can.