LEBANON / REFUGEES

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has been distributing aid to Syrian refugees at the agency’s center in Sidonin Lebanon, where at present over 250 people are being registered every day. UNHCR

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:40
• Production Date: 26 February 2013
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES - UNHCR
• Subject Topical: REFUGEES; DISPLACED PERSONS
• Geographic Subject: LEBANON; SYRIA
• MAMS Id: U130226e

Description

STORY: LEBANON / REFUGEES
TRT: 2.40
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 12-19 FEBRUARY 2013, SIDON, LEBANON

Shotlist

1. Wide shot, Banana plantation site
2. Wide shot, Maysara sitting outside with her children
3. Various shots, farmhouse
4. Wide shot, Maysara carrying coffee
5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Maysara, Syrian Refugee:
“We get by, my husband works but what he earns isn't enough. We can't cover all our costs, we need medicine for the kids I also get sick all the time because of thelife_in damp in this house“
6. Med shot, Maysara’s daughter crying
7. Various shots, Maysara holding her daughter
8. Wide shot, Refugees waiting for registration
9. Various shots, refugee woman waiting with her daughter
10. Wide shot, Maysara and her husband Hassan registering
11. Close up, Maysasa handing their paper
12. Close up, Registration officer’s face
13. Med shot, Maysara’s children’s paper
14. Med shot, Hassan and his oldest son sitting
15. Close up, Maysara’s son
16. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Hassan, Syrian Refugee:
“Coming here was the right decision we were escaping war and death.”
17. Med shot, refugees waiting for registration
18. Close up, refugee baby
19. Wide shot, refugee family talking to Nana, UNHCR field officer
20. Close up, baby’s face
21. SOUND BITE (English) Interpreter:
“There was a lot of clashes in the area they were living, so her husband basically died there.”
22. SOUNDBITE (English) Nana Esi Boham, UNHCR Lebanon:
“This case is critical, she is young mother between 17-18 years, who has three children under the age of three, so the first recommendation for her to get a shelter”
23. Various shots, UNHCR officer registering refugees
24. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fatima Mchawrab, Caritas:
“Every day there are so many refugees arriving. They come from all over Syria, from Hama, Idlib, Damascus. Their suffering is so great and there are many sick kids.”
25. Wide shot, UNHCR officer handing the paper over to Hassan
26. Wide shot, Maysara sitting
27. Med shot, Maysara and her children sitting, laughing
28. Med shot, Maysara’s youngest son smiling
29. Med shot, Maysara´s daughter playing with cat

Storyline

In southern Lebanon, a Syrian refugee family has found shelter in this abandoned farmhouse.

Maysara’s husband Hassan works in the banana plantations that surround the house.
In return, the landowner lets them live here.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Maysara, Syrian refugee:
“We get by, my husband works but what he earns isn't enough. We can't cover all our costs we need medicine for the kids I also get sick all the time because of the damp in this house.”

Their story is all too familiar. The family fled Idlib, Syria six months ago when their neighbourhood was bombed.

Once in Lebanon, Maysara heard that UNCHR distributes aid to Syrian refugees. She went to the nearest registration center in the city of Sidon.

Here, hundreds of families are registered.

Today it’s Maysara and Hassan’s turn.

When their number is called, the process begins.

For so many of the families here, recounting their stories is still very painful.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Hassan, Syrian refugee:
“Coming here was the right decision we were escaping war and death.”

Over 250 people are registered at the centre in Sidon every day.
When a family is deemed especially vulnerable….like this one …the process is accelerated.

SOUNDBITE (English) Interpreter:
“There was a lot of clashes in the area they were living, so her husband basically died there.”

SOUNDBITE (English) Nana Esi Boham, UNHCR Lebanon:
“This case is critical, she is young mother between 17-18 years, who has three children under the age of three, so the first recommendation for her to get a shelter”

Caritas a Lebanese UNHCR partner helps find homes for vulnerable refugees.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fatima Mchawrab, Caritas:
“Every day there are so many refugees arriving They come from all over Syria, from Hama, Idblib, Damascus. Their suffering is so great and there are many sick kids.”

ID papers are handed out Maysara and her family will now receive monthly aid packages.

Maysara finds hope wherever she can.

Her oldest son is in a sewing factoring training programme and her youngest son has been admitted at the local school.

All small comforts which make the families’ life in exile easier to bear.