The house began to shake and it didn’t stop. We all crouched in a corner. It was like being back in the war.
Sameera, 14, Alsama student
Sameera arrived with her parents and her seven siblings in Shatila at the end of 2018, fleeing the war. Back in Syria her father worked as a doctor and her mother was an accountant. Now there are many days when her mother struggles to provide the family with enough to eat.
Yet, in the aftermath of the explosion that ripped through Beirut on 4th of August, Sameera’s life will become an even more intense struggle for survival.
Lebanon imports 90% of all its goods – almost all through the Beirut harbour and airport. The explosion has laid that harbour to waste. Moreover, it has also destroyed silos that contained 85% of Lebanon’s grain supply. Lebanon has been in a grip of an unprecedent economic crises for over a year. Covid-19 has driven up inflation by 89%. Now the imminent food supply shortage has pushed prices even higher.
Mohammad, our cricket coach in Shatila, watched a young mother, another Alsama student, picking out rotten, half eaten fruit from a rubbish heap today.
We want to plant a white rose of hope. We want a lifeline to reach Beirut and these families – Syrians, Lebanese, Iraqis, Armenians, whatever their nationality. We want these vulnerable families to remain as safe as possible. And we want to ease their fears that they might not survive.
Mohammad Khier, Head Coach, Alsama Cricket
Please help us to support 250 vulnerable families – 150 Alsama Syrian refugee families and 100 Lebanese families living below the poverty line. We want to provide them with food boxes.
Thank you. Shukran.
Meike (CEO Alsama), Kadria (Director, Alsama Centre, Shatila), Mohammad (Head Coach, Alsama Cricket, Lebanon)