Nov, 2024
Tens of thousands of people across the country are displaced by the war and sheltering in schools and other facilities that lack basic amenities for residency.
Lebanon is grappling with one of its most severe humanitarian crises in a century. Years of political instability, economic collapse, and the deterioration of essential services have left the country struggling to function. When the war with Israel escalated in September, families quickly fled their homes, only to take refuge in under-resourced schools that were never intended to house people for long periods. Now, as winter looms, these improvised shelters are poorly equipped to provide even the most basic necessities for survival.
Overwhelmed Facilities
Lebanon’s public schools have operated with limited resources for decades, often lacking reliable water supplies, functioning toilets, or sustainable energy. Now that they are hosting hundreds of displaced families, their structural limitations have turned into crises. Families who once enjoyed the security of their homes are now living in overcrowded classrooms without heat, sufficient lighting, or reliable access to clean water, unsure of when or if they might be forced to flee again.
In one school in Koura, North Lebanon, a scene captured the bleak reality: rows of 10-liter water jugs were set out in the sun in the school yard.
"Winter hasn’t even fully arrived, and people are already struggling.”
“They put the bottles outside for the sun to heat the water for showers, because there’s no water heating system,” a local volunteer explains. “Winter hasn’t even fully arrived, and people are already struggling.”
With Lebanon’s energy crisis crippling basic services, many schools often don’t provide light at night, leaving displaced families to navigate cold, unlit spaces. The darkness extends beyond the physical - it creates a psychological toll as people who have already endured immense trauma are left sitting in silence, their futures uncertain.
Ismail, a 60-year-old man from Maroun al-Ras in Nabatieh, shares his family’s journey of displacement.
“One minute you're sitting comfortably in your home, and suddenly you’re in a school with many other families," he said. “People are barely managing to get by. We have a problem with water. Water comes before food because a person needs to clean themselves before eating… The water gets cut off, and there’s no hot water, and winter is coming.”
"The water gets cut off, and there’s no hot water, and winter is coming.”
For Ismail, the impact of displacement is personal and profound. Forced to flee multiple times, he has seen his home life upended.
“This war is different. It’s bigger. They’re destroying everything,” he says, explaining his longing for the familiarity of his home village.
“A person always has this longing, a longing for the soil, for the water they drink at home. This water keeps moving within your veins forever. It’s the water you first drank at home.”
Anera’s Winterization Efforts
In response to the urgent need for winterization, Anera has launched initiatives to support these schools / shelters. With the cold weather arriving earlier than in previous years, we have mobilized resources to provide essential winter items such as clothing kits and sleeping bags.
Many shelters are located in Lebanon’s mountainous regions, where the cold sets in early, and is piercing. To address this, Anera has prioritized winterization efforts in areas like the mountain villages of Dannieh in North Lebanon and the Aley district in Mount Lebanon, which sits 1,000 meters above sea level.
“This war is different. It’s bigger. They’re destroying everything.”
When a school unexpectedly opens to shelter people fleeing danger, it starts with nothing but empty classrooms and empty floors. People are forced to sleep on cold tiles. This is where Anera steps in to deliver mattresses, pillows, warm blankets and sleeping bags. To date, we have provided comfort to some 26,000 internally displaced people.
Anera has also delivered high quality winter clothing for 1,300 individuals and counting. Warm clothes are essential for families like that of a 43-year-old mother from South Lebanon, who admitted that, “when we left our house it was still summer, we didn’t expect to stay away for this long. We didn’t pack any clothes, let alone anything for winter.” Though Anera’s support has provided these families with some relief, the scale of need remains vast.
Anera also makes efforts to provide support beyond distributing humanitarian aid. Through our youth vocational programs, we engage young volunteers and tailoring trainees looking to provide relief for displaced communities through intentional workforce training that allows them to earn a wage and practically support their neighbors. Each year, cohorts of students learn to become electricians, mechanics, nurses, solar installation technicians, farmers, and more. Trainees from our sewing courses, supported by UNICEF and KFW Development Bank, have made hundreds of sleeping bags for families seeking relief from the cold of winter in shelters. For these youths, the work is both meaningful and deeply personal.
This program is support by UNICEF, with funding from the German Development Bank, KfW
Hind, a 22-year-old tailoring trainee, says,
“This course helped me find myself. Because I know what it’s like to face hardship, I’m driven to make these sleeping bags and contribute to the response.”
In Lebanon, where over two million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, the support of donors and humanitarian organizations is crucial. Anera’s winterization efforts highlight the urgency of meeting immediate needs, but this is only one piece of a much larger puzzle.
Temporary solutions cannot provide lasting stability, and they don’t address the significant development gaps that remain in the absence of consistent schooling. Displaced families need more than emergency assistance; they need the hope of returning to their homes, rebuilding their lives, and finding comfort again.
