Ayesha Roscoe, host:
According to UN officials, Lebanon has the highest number of refugees per capita in the world. Most of them are Syrians who fled war in their country a decade ago. Beirut now says refugees are damaging the country’s economy and security, and it is increasingly deporting Syrians back despite UN threats. NPR’s Zane Arraf and Jawad Rizkallah were in Arsal near the Lebanese-Syrian border. Only one threat – this record contains talk of self harm.
ZANE ARAFF, BYLINE: The camp inside the Bekaa Valley takes in a view of snow-covered mountains, no matter how sickly it is inside the camp, sun-drenched and naked. It storms here all the time, so I’m looking at one of those makeshift tents where they’ve put shredded tires on the roof to keep the plastic from blowing away. One batch of tents is made of wooden objects, worn-out blankets and steel sheets wrapped in plastic.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Making song in non-English language).
ARRAF: Refugees are not allowed to build permanent buildings here. Even for tents, they pay rent to the land owner. Cash-strapped aid businesses have also reduced the amount of Aqua they provide.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #1: (Non-English language spoken).
(sound of footsteps)
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #1: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: However, on a muddy road ahead, a group of boys are playing a game with stones and a ball, the only ball they have in the entire group, she tells us.
(rattle sound)
ARRAF: A used boy keeps his baby sister. He has reduced it to the rattle of a worn-out lightbulb with seeds inside. We are not using the full names of the children for their safety.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #2: (Non-English language spoken).
SAAD: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: When we asked them how they were, one of the boys told us about being attacked with sticks by a Lebanese boy and two youths when they went down to the field to retrieve the ball.
SAAD: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: “They thought we were stealing vegetables,” says Saad.
SAAD: (Non-English language spoken).
MAHMOUD: (Non-English speaking).
ARRAF: “Every time they see us, they beat us,” says Mahmoud. The boys say they just want to play football and go to college.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #3: I like college.
ARRAF: Do you like college? What information do you have?
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #3: English, math, science, Arabic.
ARRAF: Those kids travel four times the speed in the morning, but most kids don’t. Their parents do not have enough money for bus fare. In some parks, there are no academics. A group of Lebanese children are in a similar situation.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #4: (Screaming).
ARRAF: But here, Abdul Hafez al-Houlani, a teacher and poet, says it is a wrong month.
ABDUL HALIZ AL-HOULANI: (Through interpreter) You don’t allow me to paint. You do not allow me to travel. Profitable. Although you do not allow me to be informed? Why?
ARRAF: The UN refugee agency says Lebanon sent back 10,000 Syrian refugees at the last minute. At that moment some people volunteered to travel, many others did not. The United Nations says returning refugees to war zones violates global norms. However Lebanon never signed the refugee convention and considers most of the Syrians who fled as displaced persons or economic migrants. This leaves them without any coverage and those who have been openly opposed to the Syrian regime at risk of arrest and torture if sent back.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PRISONER: (Non-English speaking).
ARRAF: This video on social media shows four prisoners trying to turn themselves in at Roumieh prison in Lebanon, after being told they will be deported to Syria. We reached out to a Syrian prisoner in prison who said he witnessed this scene. He talked about the situation of hiding his identity and expression. He said prison guards had revived the boys after sick bites and sent them across the border.
In another tent, newly built with a contemporary fireplace, Mahmoud Satof says they are trapped, not able to stay in Syria or live safely in Lebanon.
Mahmoud Satof: It’s hard to live in a playground where you’re not welcome, you know, where you feel like you’re causing problems and you can damage the playground where you’re living. At the same time, at the same time, you live there, like.
ARRAF: He says he finds it sacrilegious that refugees are contributing to Lebanon’s financial campaign. Satof was 17 years old when his people fled the city of Homs. He learned to study English online.
Satoff: I pursued it on an American scholarship through a school called Southern Disrepute Hampshire College. I did it in business controls, and I graduated at the last minute.
ARRAF: A group of young Syrians trying to smuggle themselves into Europe, albeit with people and fake cash. Despite everything that has happened, they still have hope.
Satof: My situation as a person who dreamed of becoming a famous person and ended up becoming a refugee – this is a situation completely different for me. Even though I’m still, like – I’m still working on myself.
ARRAF: He’s writing a journal on his telephone.
Satuf: The advantage of working as a producer is that the dream doesn’t end until you die.
ARRAF: Right here in this abandoned corner of Lebanon, just a few hundred feet from Syria, there are hundreds of families who can travel no further because they would never have to drive again. Zane Arraf, NPR Information, Arsal refugee camp, Lebanon.
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