Right now, we are calling urgently for your help to respond to a human emergency in Lebanon. With attacks by Israel across the country, many families are scared. People are fleeing from the south and east Bekaa in large traffic jams, and many many people are arriving in the area of Bar Elias, where we work. They have no place to stay without the help of charities like us. Lebanon is already suffering a huge economic crisis, mass unemployment and rising poverty. People who are internally displaced do not have any funds to secure their needs.
There are now 8 coordinated shelters (mostly schools) in the Bekaa Valley. In the last two days, we have helped to set two of them up, and are working with partners in the area to house more people. Our team are ready to equip shelters and help families directly with mattresses, blankets and heating fuel and food.
To do this, we need your help to make some emergency purchases:
£11 pays for one foam mattresses for people to sleep on.
£32 buys four thick blankets to keep people warm at night.
£54 secures eight liters of heating fuel, keeping a whole room in a shelter warm for 5 days.
£ any amount will go towards buying food to hand out to displaced people.
We are a small team, able to adapt fast and respond directly to people in need. Thanks to our huge reach, a lot of people in the area already know us, and we coordinate a work phone where they can reach us. We are also part of an inter-organisational network to co-coordinate stocking the shelters and emergency relief, to ensure that we do not repeat already-completed work, and to share important updates.
We've been buying bulk fast food to distribute to people stuck in cars, and also to people on the streets.
Buying water to distribute on 24th September 2024, to families stuck at the Al Marj market area with nowhere to sleep - we're in the process of arranging shelters for them thanks to the support of other charities.
Our team send us this photo from an explosion earlier today. (From 961 News)
Above: major explosions have been reported in the Bekaa Valley, where we live and work.
Below: families flee south Lebanon to northern areas such as the Bekaa.