Provide meals for Syrian and Lebanese refugees

Dear Donors,

With this report Aleimar and our local partner the Association Oui Pour la Vie would like to share un update in relation to the project developed in Lebanon. Lebanese authorities currently estimate that the number of Syrian people in the Country is about 1.5 million and 400.000 Palestinians and 18.000 people of other nationalities have to be added. More than 33% of households lives in informal settlements and refugees’ camps are spread across the Country. Often their homes are made of plastic sheets or billboards at the mercy of the weather: winter is very cold and rainy; summer is extremely hot and dry and temperatures fluctuates from -10°C to +40°C. In settlements there are not sanitary facilities nor educational services for children and families are forced to pay in order to rent the land occupied by their tents. The cost of a basic food basket has increased by 725% in 4 years and inflation amounts to 200%.

In the beginning of 2000, some donors started to help the poorest part of the population in Lebanon visiting a great number of people in the most abandoned neighborhoods, where they were living in really difficult conditions. With time some of these volunteers had the idea to found the Association “Oui our la Vie” that is even now committed to helping the most vulnerable families. Thanks to your donations, the service of food distribution to refugees and locals of Damour is always active and our local partner also manages a first-aid room that provides health tests for AIDS, drugs and alcohol, medications and psychological support.

Thanks to all of you that have decided to support this project. Your help can make the difference!

Dear Donor,

with this report Aleimar would like to update you with news coming from Lebanon and all the volunteers of the association “Oui pour la Vie” that works in Damour in favor of refugees and the poorest people without distinction of religion or provenience. What has happened during the last three months?

Almost 82% of the Lebanese population lives under the poverty line, prices have multiplied by at least 60 times and they are still rising, while incomes are always lower. Schools are often closed for economic reasons since Christmas. Inflation rate of the Country has reached a yearly increase of 123% and the prices of education, health, food, water, energy and of a lot of services have increased from 160 to 190%.

Syria has entered in the 13^th year of war: two million of Syrians live in refugee camps in Lebanon, which is the Country that hosts the highest number per capita of refugees. Moreover, in February a catastrophic earthquake and a series of temblors and aftershocks have devastated southeast Turkey and conflict-ravaged Syria. Hundreds of thousands of people are living in desperate conditions, lacking adequate shelter, food, clean water, sanitation, and more. The association « Oui pour la Vie » has helped people affected by the earthquake and some volunteers have gone to Syria in order to distribute aids in the most devastated areas.

The activities in Damour are going on without a break and in March 2023 the service of providing daily meals to the poorest part of the population celebrates its seventh anniversary. The association supports all the recipients also providing ambulatory services, AIDS, drugs and alcohol tests, medicines and school for the most vulnerable children.

Thanks to your backing all these activities are possible, in particular in this dramatic moment. With your support you allow Aleimar and Oui port la Vie to help a great number of families and children in need!

Thank you!

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!