“I
didn’t think of my toys. I only thought of my brothers
and sisters. We were playing at home when the rocket fell on
our neighbour’s house and destroyed it.” This is
what six-year-old Fadl Abu Milhem remembers. He left his southern
Lebanese village of Rihan on July 16, following Israeli bombardment
and warnings to the people asking them to evacuate the area.
Fadl speaks as he stands with his father, his uncle, and his
five brothers and sisters, awaiting a visit from the volunteers
of the Homs branch of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent Society (SARCS).
They deliver daily rations of food, medicines and other supplies,
including mattresses and blankets. Each individual receives
a food basket containing sugar, tea, rice, cheese, vegetables,
meat, eggs, olive oil and baby milk. The supplies come from
Red Crescent stocks, as well as from donations by the local
community.
“Whenever we heard the roar of Israeli planes, we hid
behind my mother and rushed to the basement to protect ourselves,”
Fadl says. “There, we wept and prayed. My father was not
with us at the time, he was at Al-Dahiya (Southern Suburb) in
Beirut.”
Fadl’s 38-year-old father, Bilal, breaks into tears as
he listens to his young son. “When I heard the news of
the escalating hostilities, I left Beirut and headed south in
spite of the bombardment,” he said. “Hurriedly,
I took my wife and five children — the eldest is 14 and
the youngest is two and a half years old. From the house, I
took only our official documents. We got into our car and headed
towards the Syrian border by the Tripoli-Homs highway.
A Syrian citizen in Homs offered us the use of his empty apartment
for free. The Syrian Arab Red Crescent offers us basic supplies.
We contacted our relatives and informed them that things here
were all right and they joined us. Today, we live with my wife’s
family and other relatives, who have also fled the village.
It was a very grinding experience. I do not know what happened
to our house. I hope I will be able to return there to see it.”
Amira’s Story
Amira sits with 40 other evacuees inside a tent, pitched by
the Homs Branch of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent at Dabbousia,
a checkpoint at the Syrian-Lebanese border. Dabbousia is 40
kilometres from Tripoli — Lebanon’s largest city
in the north, 70 kilometres from the central Syrian city of
Homs, and only one kilometer from Al-Abboudia, the first Lebanese
village across the border. SARCS volunteers provide the evacuees
with water, light meals and psychological support. They also
have access to a mobile health clinic and a general practitioner,
who supervises the condition of children and adults.
Amira is in her forties. She hails from Majadel — a village
in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre. She is in her eighth
month of pregnancy. She says, “On Wednesday, July 19,
the bombardment of our village started. We sought shelter in
our houses. However, when two Israeli rockets fell on our already-damaged
house and our neighbours’ destroyed dwelling, we had no
choice but to flee. Our neighbors left with us. We were 18 in
total — 13 women, three little girls aged 3, 7 and 10
years, my father, who is in his 70’s, and my husband.”
She adds: “Had it not been for our fear that the children
would die of hunger and fright, we would not have left. We have
nothing. We found the clothes we are wearing at an exploded
house along the way. I took them when I realized that my children
needed them. We are still wearing the same underwear in which
we left our house. My daughter is also pregnant and is six months
due. She is tired. It is her first pregnancy.”
“We are waiting for the Red Crescent bus to take us to
Damascus, where our relatives went before us and are now residing,
in the Al-Sayida Zeinab neighbourhood.”
Jihad, Syrian Red Crescent Volunteer
“Here, at the Dabbousia border point, we work in two shifts
—from 8 in the morning until 10 at night and from 10 at
night until 8 in the morning,” explains Jihad, a 20-year-old
volunteer, who has been working for a year with the Syrian Arab
Red Crescent branch in Homs. “We have been working these
hours since we were informed by the Red Crescent of the emergency
situation on July 13.”
“The families arriving here are, in most cases, destitute,
especially those who do not come in their own cars or in public
transport vehicles, or those who arrive with others in trucks,
or those who have crossed the border from their villages on
foot,” he adds. “Frightened children, old, sick
people, and tired women still dressed in their nightgowns. Children
who are wearing only one shoe or the shoes of others, which
are invariably too wide for their tiny feet. Families, of whom
only half the members succeeded in fleeing. When they see us,
they feel a little comforted. We provide them with water, food,
emergency medicines and psychological support. Although we cannot
help them with the problems linked to missing documents, we
deliver them safely to the border-point employees.”
“We see to it that they are transported to their relatives’
or friends’ houses, or to shelters, run by the Red Crescent
in cooperation with the Government, at Al-Qaseer, a region 15
kilometres southeast of Homs, or in Homs itself in schools or
youth camps, or with citizens who host evacuee families under
the supervision of the Red Crescent.”
“The question that we have repeatedly hear, despite the
visible emblem on our backs, is: “Are you from the Lebanese
Red Cross?” We answer: “We are from the Syrian Red
Crescent and we play the same role that the Lebanese Red Cross
plays, but here in Syria. We all belong to the same Movement,”
concludes Jihad.
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The
volunteers of the Homs branch of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent
Society (SARCS) deliver daily rations of food, medicines
and other supplies, including mattresses and blankets.
Each individual receives a food basket containing sugar,
tea, rice, cheese, vegetables, meat, eggs, olive oil and
baby milk. (p14339)
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"...Children
who are wearing only one shoe or the shoes of others,
which are invariably too wide for their tiny feet. Families,
of whom only half the members succeeded in fleeing. When
they see us, they feel a little comforted. We provide
them with water, food, emergency medicines and psychological
support. Although we cannot help them with the problems
linked to missing documents, we deliver them safely to
the border-point employees.” (p14340)
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