Provide meals for Syrian and Lebanese refugees

Dear Donors,

Lebanon risks remaining without bread! The conflict in Ukraine is worsening an already dramatic situation. The country imports more than 60% of wheat from this territory at war and it is facing also an inflation equal to 220% that hits in particular food products. This transformed bread from a primary good to a luxury product that few people can afford just in the black market. Lebanon is facing also a crisis of drinking water: as a result, Cholera is spreading in the country. Moreover, smugglers feed human traffic leading people to Europe.

In the last two years people in relative poverty have risen from 40 to 80%, the national currency has lost 95% of its purchasing power, half of the working force earn just 36-90 dollars per month and fuel costs sixteen times more than two years ago. The price of a basic food basket (food necessary for a month per family) is increasing by more than 1.700% since October 2019. People consume always less milk products, meat, fruit and vegetables. Households are reducing their expenses for health assistance and education.

Our local representative “Oui pour la Vie » in Damour is going on more and more intensely with the activity of food distribution supporting the poorest families of the village. Moreover, the association is providing a day hospital service for people with alcohol and drugs dependence, as well as AIDS tests and a counseling center for people in need. Since September 2022 Syrian and Iraqi children of the school of Damour are raising funds in order to buy goods for the poorest children that live in the slums built in the countryside and along the sea that live with their parents in tents. Winter is the hardest season to bare because storms destroy their shelters and they live without heating. The most touching fact is that already poor children are donating part of their savings in favor of poorer children without distinction of religion and origin.

Thanks to your help we can continue to support the most fragile families of Damour. Your presence is really fundamental!

Thank you!

Dear Donor,

The compound crisis in Lebanon is ongoing rather worsening at a very quick rate weighing very heavy on most of the population, especially on the poor and the middle class. Prices of basic commodities have increased by around 15 folds while salaries remain unchanged. The basic salary is today equal to around 20$. Meanwhile, in May the black market value of the Lebanese pound fell to an all-time low of 35,600 against the US dollar (a drop from 26,800 in the space of just two weeks), a sign that Lebanon’s economic crisis is set to continue to cripple the country.

The need for the kitchen and the demand for food are permanently increasing. To accommodate one family whose situation was really dire, our local partner had to take a bit out of all meals to add the family, in view of the catastrophic situation.

The kitchen is now serving cooked meals to 83 families Lebanese and refugees from Iraq and Syria, a total of 296 people. Two times per week cooked meals are distributed and two times per month raw substance, once chicken and once meat, are also distributed. On Wednesday bread and juice are distributed to 10 families, a total of 65 people. With your help we can support our local partner and always more refugees and people in need in Damour.

Thank you!

Dear Donor,

according to our local partner “Oui Pour la Vie - OPV”, in Lebanon too many families keep on living in a fragile social and economic situation. The electricity supply is almost disappeared, it is distributed just 2 hours a day. Moreover, it is always more and more difficult to find gasoline and every week its price is more expensive than the previous one. People have to wait more than 4 hours in front of the gas station in order to refuel. The cost of food is constantly increasing and in general prices have risen by over 12 times. At the same time the Lebanese Lira has lost 92% of its value. For this reason, banks are almost no longer accessible.

Essential medicines for new-borns and for elderly people are extremely scarce and drinking water is provided irregularly. The World Health Organization reports more than 1 million 90 thousand COVID-19 confirmed cases from January 2020 till April 2022, with more than 10.300 deaths. About 5.5 million vaccine doses have been administered.

All the volunteers of Oui Pour la Vie keep on working in the kitchen of Damour, which always offers an increasing number of daily meals to a lot of local people and refugees. Our partner reports that the requests of additional meals are growing and in particular they come from elderly local people. Thanks to your support we will help Oui Pour la Vie with its always more demanding work and you will contribute assuring the food security of many vulnerable people in Lebanon.

Thank you!

Dear donors,

thanks to your help this year we were able to distribute full meals to many more people, in particular to the Lebanese who since the start of the Covid emergency had lost their job and who are passing difficult times. The staff of Aleimar and the kids who we are supporting want to thank you, wish you a peaceful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The following link is a video created by our staff and the kids supported in Damour, we hope that the smile of our kids be the best wishes and that this project makes you feel the warmth of their hearts: https://youtu.be/Yn1gKfZqobg

Laura e Miriam, Aleimar Project Managers

Links:

• https://youtu.be/Yn1gKfZqobg

As of today, from the 3^rd of January till the 1^st of November there have been 642.024 confirmed cases of Covid-19, with 8.502 deaths, the total of vaccine doses administered is 3.483.026 (WHO).

Fortunately, the economic situation in Lebanon changed for the better, if in June one Dollar was exchanged for 17.500 Lebanese Liras, today one Dollar is exchanged for 1.507 Lebanese Liras (data of the 2^nd of November). Nevertheless, people are still protesting in the streets because the social crisis continue, salaries in LBP remain unchanged and the State is unable to offer any assistance to the most vulnerable. With today’s energetic crisis people are unable to get their most needed medicines, and have to wait for more than 3 hours to get fuel, if they do and the blackouts can last 22 hours. Prices are sharply increasing daily, and most products are now being priced in USD or the daily rate of the parallel market (today for instance 1 USD = 22,500 LBP in the parallel market) whereas the official rate is still 1,500 LBP. 

Angry demonstrations and random roadblocks are making the life of the Lebanese people very hard. Everything is happening so quickly that the people are unable to keep pace. The 14th of October a shooting took place in Beirut between the Christian and Muslim neighborhoods during a protest of Shiite formations. Again, we hope that these fighting will calm down for the good of the population who continues to suffer.

Political stagnation, the inability to form a government and the start of the trial on the 2020 Beirut explosion led to the incrimination of various high government officials, something that most of us didn’t expect since the political class for decades has reigned in impunity. We hope that the families of the victims will achieve justice for their losses.

Our local partner “Oui pour la vie” keeps working in order to support Syrian and Lebanese families in Damour area providing full meals and helping them in their daily basic needs. Thanks to your donations, from the 9^th of July till the 31^st of October we were able to collect 9.930,48 USD Dollars!