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Al-Ahed Telegram

Unheard voices!

Unheard voices!
folder_openVoices access_time14 years ago
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Sara Ibrahim

When asked about the Palestinians' situation in the Camps, the first thing that hits our minds is the UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, which is supposed to be the main provider of basic services and needs to Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, education, health, relief, and social services- to over 4.5 million registered Palestine refugees in the Middle East.

Unheard voices!

Knowing that there are many other NGOs in charge of helping the refugees as well, yet many Palestinian refugees are left with no help. Many questions tormented me. I was stuck in a dilemma.

I couldn't leave these questions unanswered, despite the fact that I was sick, I decided to head to Sabra Chatila Camp; with no hesitation I got my Camera and notebook ready and hit the road.



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As I arrived, a sudden agony hit me. The scene was awfully miserable, tangled wires, dreadful infra structure, and poorly dressed children playing around in dirt, with joyful features on their faces, unaware of the unhealthy and dangerous life they live in.

While holding my camera, Fatima Yousif Sharkiye, a 60 year old woman, approached me and asked me to join her for a cup of tea, "You remind me of my daughter, who died of cancer 4 years ago", she said. I held her skinny, tired hand and smiled with sympathy.

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While walking to her place, she started telling me her wretched story. "Every corner in this camp is soaked with my tears, our tragedy will never end", she added with an old trembling voice. We arrived to her so called "house", which happened to be a small room with 2 wrecked beds, a ripped old couch and a tiny bathroom.

"My daughter Mona was like a flower, and like a flower with no water and light, she died, She had Leukemia, and we couldn't afford taking her to the hospital all the time, although many good people helped us, it wasn't enough", she added while sobbing.

When asking her about the UNRWA and how they helped her, she paused and tapped on my shoulder, and said, "Do you really believe they helped, I asked them for a 140$ medicine I needed desperately and they gave me nothing, but painful words of rejection, claiming that others are more needy than me".

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She got so excited about showing me around the camp, to prove that the UNRWA barely helps them. "I want to show you what melancholy really means", she said, as we walked heading to Mariam Sarris's House, a 73 years old woman, who was Fatima's best friend. Mariam suffered from Pneumonia and lived in a room with no electricity. "Sometimes I wake up at night, and find myself shivering from cold, I barely have the strength to light a candle", she said.

I looked around the room, and found photos of little children, I asked her who they were, and she said they were her grandchildren. "Their father died 2 years ago and they live with their mother who happens to work at the Hilal Organization, a Palestinian NGO", she continued.

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I felt bad for reminding them of the bitter past, so I thought it was better if I continued my tour in the camp alone. I left and promised them I'll help as much as I can, they seemed so happy, for people like them hang on to even the slightest thread of hope.


The camp seemed even more desperate now, for it started raining, water flood everywhere. There was no way to run from the mud! I stepped aside, and was shocked by a wire hanging down from one of the buildings; I could've been electrified had I not saw it earlier.

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As I was taking a picture of it, a 34 year old woman behind me screamed out, "That's where my husband was electrified to death", "You're lucky" Nadine Saeed continued. I suddenly felt nauseous, and rage towards every Palestinian NGO evoked in me.

After a moment of silence, I asked Nadine about her situation, she said she was a mother of 4 children, living with her 70 year old paralyzed mother, in a room that can suffocate you. After taking her permission, we headed to her house. Although I wasn't a claustrophobic, but Nadine was right I felt like I was strangled.


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Her mother was lying still on a small mattress, and her children were silently doing their home works on the floor, after coming back from school. "Our condition is really bad, sometimes I don't have money to buy food, I walk around the camp, searching for someone kind enough to help me with something", she cried, while her children continued their home works, as if trying to avoid the story of their harsh reality.

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Trying to add some sense of humor to the story she said, "I have more than 4 children, I have 2 boys, 2 girls, 3 rats, and 5 mice". I laughed thinking that it was a joke, I mean part of it was, but the part where she said there were mice and rats were true. Her children added that they woke up every morning with rats and mice sleeping next to them, they were laughing about it, I tried to laugh along but thinking about how dangerous that was made me sick!


After a long talk, a man and woman knocked the door, greeting us with a smile. They seemed dressed up neatly, something told me they weren't refugees, and I was right they turned out to be from an NGO called Irshad Association that was established in 1984 by a group of men, who wanted to make a difference in the Palestinian camps, as they both said. They were paying the refugees a visit, to check on them and see what they need.

Well, that's easy, they need everything, and they need medicines, food, a healthy environment, electricity, and a safe atmosphere for their children... They need their rights! I came here for answers, yet I left with even more severe questions and unsolved problems, hoping that all the Palestinians in the world get their right of return to their holy land of Palestine.



Comments

person JB

Great writing!

As a journalism student,I have always wanted to visit the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, but I had never been given the opportunity to embark on such a journey.I was captivated and sincerely moved by this beautifully put together article on the Palestinian refugees. The pictures and descriptive writing all made me nostalgic to return home to Lebanon and seek out the adventures that I always desire; I wish I was there helping the Palestinians by giving them what they deserve and by writing, like you, about their toils. As a supporter of you and your journalism, I feel that you jumped to the gun in concluding the truth on the refugee issue. Your work was captivating, but I felt like you left me hanging in the midst of the crux of the Palestinian struggle. I am so so curious and interested to know how the Irshad Association made a difference in helping the Palestinian refugees. I am also curious to know what the United Nations Relief and Works Agency has done for the Palestinians. Maybe you can expand and write another article concerning these issues. I hope to see many more articles written by you. :)