“I had to carry my wife all the way from here under the rain so she could deliver (at the hospital). We came back and I was holding my baby to my chest and covering him with a blanket,” says Mohammed of his newborn son, Dayf-allah.
Originally from Deir ez-Zor, the proud father of three is among thousands of refugees struggling as harsh winter weather blows in across Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. A few kilometers away, Fatima, a Syrian refugee from Aleppo, and her family battle to keep warm.
“Yesterday, when the rain and the storm came, we couldn’t warm ourselves all night. We all had four blankets on us and we still couldn’t get warm. The cold wind was coming from under the tent,” she says.
Fatima cares for her frail 80-year-old father whose chronic medical conditions and disability make him particularly vulnerable to the winter weather.
“My father has diabetes and he’s now coughing. The toilets are far for him to reach. When it rains, we cover him with blankets and take him to the toilets and bring him back.”
There are just over one million Syrian refugees in Lebanon. One-in-two live in substandard shelters like tents, garages, warehouses, unfinished buildings, and animal sheds. They require continuous support to maintain their shelters, especially during winter, which can be bitter and long in Lebanon.
More rain and snowstorms are forecast for the coming weeks. Some high-altitude towns in the Bekaa Valley and northern Lebanon have already been blanketed in snow.
“Of course I am scared for my newborn son, I have to keep him warm,” says Mohammed whose main concern now is making sure Dayf-allah is safe and secure through the winter.
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