Feature: Syrian refugee camp worried over upcoming winter

Lebanese civil activist Ali Tafesh established a camp for Syrian refugees about five years ago, on a land planted with olive trees in Lebanon's mountain village of Ketermaya, about 30 kilometers southeast of the capital city of Beirut.

To reach the camp, one must climb a bumpy slope and walk through canals where sewage passes with unbearable smell due to the lack of disposal system to serve the camp, which endangers the lives of the refugees with many health problems.

The few people that hastily received the visiting team of UNHCR and UNICEF were showing a clear expression of the harsh living conditions the camp was going through.

Tafesh, who heads the "Life and Light" Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) and manages the camp, is coordinating with other international NGOs and aid donors to secure the needs of the refugees who settled in the camp and whose cost he willingly covered "for free."

"When the number of refugees increased and it was impossible to provide them with houses in the village, I had the idea of erecting tents on my land. The refugees accepted and so did the NGOs and the UNHCR, which started giving necessary aids," Tafesh told Xinhua.

He pointed that 324 refugees are living in the 52 tents of the camp, which was started with a lack of drinking water, electricity and toilets, as only four toilets are available in the camp.

Tafesh succeeded in securing water and electricity partially through tanks and a generator that was bought through a Saudi aid.

He explained the hardship of the refugees particularly the shortage in their basic needs during the winter season in heating oil, pointing that the real concern is always the severe weather conditions and the floods created by rain that would sweep their tents.

He also revealed that following the cuts in aid, the situation of the refugees worsened in health and education, stressing that most of the refugees in the camp reached the land after the destruction of their homes in Syria and 25 of them are orphans.

Tafesh said that his "Life and Light" was established with a Kuwaiti aid. The tent he turned to mosque and two others as a school were provided through the aid that the NGO receives, which also covers the salaries of three teachers at the school.

"There are 180 children in schooling age here but the teaching provided is not enough, while the UNICEF realizes this fact without addressing it properly," he stressed.

With the coming winter season, the same worries rise again as floods and heavy winds sometimes oust the tents. "We called on the UNHCR for helping us strengthening the tents with wood wedges and new covers," he added.

The tents cover between 13 and 24 square meters, in which foam mattresses are spread with blankets for sleep and a small area where kitchen tools are displayed.

Mohammad Damarani, a 33-year-old man displaced from the Damascus neighborhoods in 2014, said "my brother's family and mine are since living on the aid provided to us as I suffer from back pain that is so acute for me to work."

He said he was displaced after bombings destroyed his house in the Maadamiiah neighborhood.

"Living in the camp is a great misery as we lack almost everything and face real hardship in food, health and teaching needs," he said, calling on the international community to "provide us with our basic needs at least."

Damarani worried about the future of his children, saying his is seeking to migrate to Europe and has applied through the UNHCR to many EU embassies in Lebanon and still waiting for a response.

He admitted not thinking of returning to Syria "where I lost everything," but wished "peace would be restored soon there," expressing his dismay for the "international and regional powers' disagreements over the issue of Syria."

Ahmad Janbar, displaced from the devastated city off Syria's Idlib in 2012, said he and his family "miraculously survived the random shells that hit their house."

Janbar who was completing his University studies in Arabic literature helps teaching the children in the camp.

"Tafesh supplies books and stationery for four hours of daily teaching," he said. "There are around 80 children divided in four age groups."

The long distance between the camp and the regular schools at the village makes it difficult for the children to attend them and transportation is expensive as well, he added.

A 46-year-old mother Amira Fayad from Damascus neighborhoods said that her husband as a free lance worker left three years ago and did not return since.

"We lack everything and eat spaghetti and rice and lentil soup without any other vegetables or fruits," she said, suffering from diabetes and "cannot have regular medicine."

She wished her husband would be found and that the war in Syria ends "so we can return home."

According to the UNHCR, there are about 1.1 million Syrians who fled their country since the beginning of the uprising against President Bashar Assad in 2011, but the Lebanese officials stress that the figure is more than 1.5 million. Endit