Fatima Tahta looks exhausted. She is forty years old and has 12 children, five boys and seven girls.
She and her family now live in the village of Tabbayah a few kilometres south of Sidon.
“We came from further south – we don’t know anything about what has
happened to our home – we are guests in someone’s house here,” she said.
Fatima’s village is close to the town of Nabatiyyah which has been bombed during the conflict.
“We
left because of the bombing – we have been here for more than a week.
The children get scared when the planes fly very close.”
Islamic
Relief is distributing weekly food packages in the area, but Fatima is
concerned that if the conflict continues she will struggle to feed her
family.
“The food will help, but we need five packets of bread daily.”
Hussain Abid, 38, is a local man from Tabbayah. He is a builder by
profession but because of the war, salaries are not being paid and he
has a wife and three children to feed. He collects an Islamic Relief
food parcel for his family. His outlook for the future is bleak.
“It’s
a tragic situation. Nobody is working and there is no money. Our
children are not studying and the schools are full of refugees.
“The
food will not last more than a week and the water never lasts more than
two days- the place where we get water from is under attack,” he said.
Steel Maker
His
children, Samira, 13, Hasan, 12, and Hossam, 9, feel the strain of
leaving their village. “Everything in the daily lives of the children
has changed. The children cannot go out because at anytime the planes
fly close and they can attack,” he said.
His
wife, Maham, 30, fears for the children. “You can see what is
happening, of course the children have been affected. Last night they
did not sleep because the areas close by were attacked.”
Twelve-year-old Hasan, however, is determined that the current
crisis will not deter him from becoming a steel maker. “I think I will
lose a year from my life this year and it will affect me when I grow
up. I am going to carry on studying as soon as I have the chance - I
would like to be a steel maker.”
Help Islamic Relief to ease the suffering in Lebanon and Palestine - donate online now.