ANERA's Work in Lebanon's Palestinian Refugee Camps

Residents of the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon face staggering rates of joblessness, internal tension and disgraceful housing conditions. Poor Lebanese communities live alongside Palestinian refugees and share many of the same challenges to survival. Our response in two camps, Nahr El Bared and Ein El Helweh, serves as examples of the kind of work we are doing every day with hundreds of community groups in almost every refugee camp and gathering (unofficial camp) of Lebanon.

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Nahr El Bared

In the spring of 2007, Nahr El Bared, a refugee
camp of 40,000 Palestinians in northern Lebanon,
was devastated by three months of fighting between Fatah Al-Islam militants and the Lebanese army.
The violence and heavy bombing left in its wake
an almost empty refugee camp, where 60% of the buildings and 80% of the homes were severely damaged or completely destroyed.

Almost all of the families living there were
displaced for the second time in their lives, for
many it was the third or even fourth time.

ANERA is helping families return to Nahr El Bared
as they struggle to resume normal lives while living
in temporary shelters or patched-up buildings.

Read the whole story >>

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Ein El Helweh

Ein El Helweh is the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon but is squeezed into an area of roughly 1.5 square kilometers. Living conditions for more than 70,000 refugees living there are unhealthy and often dangerous.

Human Call Hospital sits near the end of one of the crowded streets that run through the camp in Saida, Lebanon. Hospital Director Dr. Amer El Sammak explains that Human Call has the only clinic open 24/7 to treat emergencies, making its services critical for the camp's residents.

Read how ANERA is helping >>