Stories from the Field

“My name is Abeer.

I snuck into the pocket space under the stairs and settled on a worn rubber tire. I took into myself a rusty-bladed knife in a box of wood shavings, and watched the crystal bubbles in clear olive-oil jugs, and mourned.

My fuzz-head torn-shorts brother sat cross-legged on the ground beside me, and he held my hand in his so brown, scab-kneed little urchin thinking thoughts deep by the rusty-handled hoes. We sat, us two, drifting between time and place, the air so still and dry it burned our skins- but did not burn the hurt engraved underneath-sitting amidst ruins of an ancient town, already forgetful of the fairy foot-falls of elfin children, the glorious frivolity in their pearly-toothed grins.

I inched close wondering- it was the first reverberating life motion, memories in this garden-climbing a shiny-leafed fig tree- Tripoli, Lebanon, and the scorching abyss of the dark planting hole, seeds dropped down deep, nothing shaded, only burnt-black bright migraine-sun-and brown-skinned children sitting hollow-eyed each on a ladder rung propped up against a pomegranate tree, dread in small hands gripping splintery wood, watching the dust settle amidst the rubble of a now-sky-roofed house.

My father is dead. My home, it is ruined, racked by the explosion that took so much away from us. Our family is destitute, our basic needs for food, clothing, shelter- they are all unmet. It is with despair we look to the future. We are deprived of the paternal care that gives us good homes and a chance at a decent education. We are deprived of the capable love that can erase the dread we face our future with, bring back the frivolity in our smiles and set our lives moving again in a direction where we will not have to watch the dust settle over our ruin.

But there is a beacon of hope. My little brother, Ahmed, only 5 years old, has been sponsored by HCI for two years now. It is the only source of income for my family now.”

(more…)

“I’m already feeling nervous and it has only been few hours since I arrived. How do those permanently living here feel? How do they manage?” wondered Aminah Kandar, a visiting Board Member from HCI-Canada, during a field visit to Tripoli. Aminah was accompanied by HCI’s local partner CIWS, specifically to the troubled area of Bab Al Tebeneh. This area is where the poorest families in Tripoli live, and where the economical cycle is mostly dependent on recycling metal - a job that barely makes a living.

We stood there trying to locate the house of an HCI sponsored child, despite the wreckage, and the warning sign displaying “YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO ENTER THE BUILDING! MUNICIPALITY OF TRIPOLI” placed upfront, we went inside. The El-Sayed family that we were trying to reach, lives in this building where a massive explosion took place in middle of the night two months ago. This area has witnessed since April this year the deadliest clashes in Tripoli’s history. The northern city of Tripoli in Lebanon is the second most populated city yet the poorest city in Lebanon. This City of Tripoli is also known to be the poorest city on the Mediterranean sea.

Ahmed’s recently widowed mother, Fadileh, welcomed us inside her house surrounded by broken windows and cracked walls — a house that was shattered and wrecked from the intensity of the explosion. “We wear sleeping there”, Fadileh pointed out to the other room in house. “When the explosion happened, we woke up on a massive sound. I thought the building is falling over our heads,” Fadileh added. “I don’t know how did I reach for the children and ran towards the door. The shattered glass was all over the floor. I could hardly see from the dust and smoke. I was surrounded by my crying kids, but I could barely hear because my ears were bleeding. The smell of fire was increasing. I tried to unlock the door but it was stuck because of the intensity of the explosion. It was a total chaos. The neighbors finally managed to break in and helped us get out of the house. As I left the house, I distributed my six kids among my relatives in the near villages, and I came back here seeing if I could salvage anything,” she concluded with tears in her eyes.

Fadileh was widowed in 2002 when her husband suffered from a fatal fall while working, leaving her alone with 6 children aged 5 to 14 years old to take care of all by herself. Fadileh worked as a janitor for couple of months, but had to quit because of health problems.

Ahmed (5yrs) and his siblings were very excited about us; it is very rare that they get visitors from anyone. “I want to be an army officer” Ahmed said while smiling, “I want to protect my family”, he added. The Al Sayed family lives under extreme poverty and continuous insecurity like most of the Bab Al Tabaneh residents. Ahmed has been sponsored by HCI for two years. This sponsorship is currently the only source of income for the entire family.

Only 14 years old, and already engaged, the oldest daughter had dropped out of school. Fadileh thinks that her daughter’s future husband will substitute the needed male figure in her family, and will provide protection and security. We had a long discussion with Fadileh and her oldest daughter, Abeer, concerning early marriage, and the need and importance of Abeer’s education. Fadileh, agreed but added, “I had a dream to see my children either medical doctors or army officers, but right now I can’t afford the education of six children, even in a public school. I don’t have a job, and no one takes care of us, including my family and my relatives. I don’t want to imagine what would have happened to us without Ahmed’s sponsorship provided by HCI,” Fadileh concluded while remembering how Ahmed got sponsored by HCI two years ago.

Al Sayed family is one of many cases that HCI is supporting through the regional Child Sponsorship Program. This program provides not only financial support, but also hope; not only for the sponsored children, but in many cases, such as Al Sayed family, hope for the entire family. As we walked out of the building, hoping that we will continue supporting Fadileh and her family, Ahmed was waving good bye from the wrecked and unstable balcony, smiling at us and inspiring us to keep on working harder to not only help Ahmed but also others. Without this sponsorship, Ahmed and his entire family could have lived their entire life not knowing what hope is.