By Joseph | GHNI Representative
More than three million Syrian refugees fled to Lebanon seeking shelter from the raging war in Syria. Due to the high number of refugees, neither the UN nor the numerous NGOs were able to meet the great need. The need is even greater when the families are made up of a husband, wife, and children numbering from six to ten. When they are made up of a husband and more than one wife, the number of children is usually from 11 to 22.
Recent statistics show that 781 babies were born last October, and more than 250,000 babies were born in Lebanon among the refugees throughout the year. Bear in mind that many children haven't been registered with the government and, thus, the real number is much higher. The UN declared that 85% of families live in unhealthy places, are malnourished, and have scarce food.
Many girls between the ages of 12 - 16 years are being married to men the age of their fathers. Due to the high number of child marriages, divorce rates have increased, and they often divorce after just one month of marriage.
Since Lebanon is a small country with four million people, and since the Syrian refugees are almost the same number, all the Lebanese villages and cities are affected by this phenomenon. GHNI-Lebanon has a role in helping many people by enhancing education, improving health, providing clean water, and teaching them how to generate income.
*Farah's family has seven children. They benefited from several programs offered by GHNI. Her mother used to regularly attend our programs and the children used to attend classes. Consequently, they occasionally opened their tent for awareness lessons to be held.
Due to the hard-living conditions, the father did not have any choice but to make his daughter get married, like thousands of fathers, as a way of cutting down the burden. Farah got married at the age of 14 years and was divorced just two years after. After she managed to reach Germany, the government offered her education since she was underage. Despite her divorce, Farah succeeded at school and received an honor award for the academic year from 2016 to 2017.
A few days ago, Farah was celebrated by all of her family. They were very grateful for all the years of investment GHNI has done in their lives.
*For the purpose of safety and wellbeing, “Farah” is a pseudonym for the individual being helped by this project.
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