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Aisha Ahmed and Suzanne Abdulhadi's journey through Lebanon continues as they travel to a refugee camp to distribute aid, encountering some unexpected obstacles along the way.

Day 2 was the day scheduled for distributing aid. We were excited to give out the items that had been purchased for the refugees with the donations our team had raised and the winter aid packs that we assembled the day before.

At midday, after a four hour drive from Beirut, we arrived at the army checkpoint at Arsal, a few minutes from the camp. We had passed through the same checkpoint the previous day without any issues. On this day, however, it was a different story. We were told that although permission had been sought before our arrival, we were not permitted to enter. No reason was given.

For the next few hours ASA, Muslim Charity’s partner, tried to contact senior officials to sort out the issue so we could drive into Arsal village. Hours later, sitting in the car whilst the boys played football, we decided to go to another camp, a camp that even the ASA representative accompanying us, did not know of. It just happened to be adjacent to where we had parked.

We arrived at this unknown Syrian refugee camp which was housing 32 families. We saw children playing and people standing around. They didn’t know who we were but they greeted us warmly with “ahlan wa sahlan” - welcome. We approached a child who was standing alone. We spoke to her and held her hand whilst she led us to her home where we sat with her mother. Other women soon joined us. We discussed their situation and prayed that one day they could return to their home.

When one of us needed to use the bathroom we were shown to the toilet by a lady who asked us not to judge her. Her toilet was outside her home and was in a shape of a cylinder, it looked like a waste bin. When she opened the “door”, there was only a hole in the ground. One person would struggle to fit into this toilet. We told her not to be silly and that she had nothing to be ashamed of.

The situation reminded us of the previous day in the other refugee camp when a lady told us she would cook for us and then added, looking ashamed, “I am clean.” She thought we may think she wasn’t clean because of the conditions she lived in. The tents were surrounded by mud and their kitchen and toilet all in one room. We told her; “eating from you is like eating from my mother’s hand.”

Shortly after an ASA truck arrived with mattresses, blankets and boxes of evenly distributed food. Everybody stood in line and each family took a mattress, two blankets and a box of food. As we started handing everything out it began to rain. We handed each family their items and watched their faces glow with happiness at receiving the most basic of essentials that we all need.

After the aid had been distributed, we then began to hand out our own items that we had bought with us from the UK as gifts. They included warm clothes, hats, scarves and gloves. Seeing the excitement in their faces, we began to feel helpless when our items ran out and there was nothing left to give. We struggled to distribute everything equally and fairly, but how do you say no to a mother who just wants another pair of socks for her child?



As we prepared to leave, a lady approached us asking for five minutes of our time. She explained that her baby is ill. She believed that three of her other children had died of the same illness. She tells us that she could not afford the tests needed to diagnose her son. We said that we would speak to the charity’s partner, ASA, with the hope that they can assist. We wished we could have helped her more but we couldn’t promise her anything. Once again, we felt helpless.



The families bid us farewell with prayers and smiles. We left with hearts heavier than the day before. They return to their tents and we drove back to our hotel.

On the drive back we contemplated the stories we heard. Suzanne has family in Syria. The experience makes her wonder what she would do if it were her family in the same situation as the refugees. Six relatives all living in one room, a toilet and kitchen in one confined space. It is surreal to think that this could easily be Suzanne’s family. The family she used to play with in the Syrian streets. The family she would spend summers with as a child, staying up late lying on the beach at night telling each other horror stories.

“What would I do if this was my family?” she said as we drove back. We quietly considered what would we do?

Solicitor Aisha Ahmed and trainee solicitor Suzanne Abdulhadi both from Duncan Lewis’ Immigration Department are travelling to Lebanon with the UK charity; Muslim Charity to take part in the One Ummah Tour which sees them visiting Syrian refugee camps.

The conflict in Syria has seen millions of refugees displaced in Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Greece, Jordan and other European countries. Muslim Charity has been supporting Syrian refugees through emergency food, medical aid, supporting orphans, widows, schools and hospitals ever since the conflict began.

If you would like to make a donation, please visit Aisha and Suzanne’s page at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/aisha-and-suzanne. Any donation, of any amount, will go a long way to helping those in need.