Help for refugee families facing bombing in Beirut
Photo taken by our artisan Rima shortly before she fled her home.
We are sending cash grants to refugee families in Lebanon who have been forced to leave their homes due to the Israeli bombardment. This will enable people in dire need to buy what they need most, be that blankets or food, medicines or nappies.
You can help by buying a handmade Oshana piece, or donating to the crowdfunder. Either way, 100% of income goes to supporting families in the midst of the crisis.
Indiscriminate Israeli bombing across Lebanon has forced nearly all the 100 Syrian and Palestinian refugee families supported by Makani and our craft project Oshana to leave their homes yet again.
Our Lebanon coordinator Tayma describes the situation: ‘The strikes went on all night, random, erratic. The air is filled with a smell of burning. The bombs are terrible but what is more horrifying is the constant sound of children’s screams and cries’.
Having already fled the horrors of war once, rebuilt their lives, and began to work through the trauma of all they have experienced, now the bombs fall again: ‘We live every day with extreme fear. We have already run away. There is no place safe for us to go to. We can’t go back to Syria, our home was destroyed, and it is not safe for us there’ says Oshana artisan, Fayrouz.
With nowhere else to go, many are sleeping on the seafront or in stadiums in search of somewhere safe. Some have managed to rent somewhere to stay in the north, sleeping 25 people to a room.
A bomb fell on the street where our centre is located, we do not know if our building has been damaged as yet.
Thankfully, all of our community are as yet unharmed, though the home of our artisan Nariman has been bombed, as you can see in the video that she sent us below. Nariman has worked hard to build a new life in Lebanon, and is at the heart of our refugee community, a friend and sister and surrogate mother to many. Many of Oshana’s products are made with love by her skilled hands, and purchasing these is one of the best ways to support Nariman and others through this unimaginable trauma.
We are fundraising to reach Makani’s community of 100 families, and a further 100 families in need (over 1,000 people in total), with cash grants so they can buy what they need most, be that blankets or food, medicine or water. This is the quickest, safest and most effective way to reach them.
Anything that you can spare will make a huge difference to these doubly displaced people who have nowhere left to go. People like Oshana artisan Nadia, who has told us ‘We are very terrified. Where could we flee to? We go to sleep thinking this night would be our last. What terrifies me the most is the safety of my children. They are very small. We fled from the war in Syria and now we are living the same horror’.
Thank you so much to everyone who has supported already. Your humanity is like a light in the darkness.
