MEET HALA

“My name is Hala. I am married and have two daughters, respectively 5 and 4 years-old. We left our village in the Aleppo countryside in Syria 10 months ago. Our house was destroyed. I was afraid for my two daughters. Every time a plane would fly overhead and drop a bomb, entire families were killed together in their homes. Everyone in our village left. There was no one, nothing left.

It took us 6 days to reach Lebanon, it was a very scary, tiring, and expensive journey. My small daughters struggled to keep up but they kept walking out of fear.

My husband suffers from an intellectual disability and does not provide for our family. In Lebanon, I could not find work and pay the rent. I had to borrow money from all my neighbours and family members. At one point we were almost homeless. Soon we faced a very heavy debt. But I found Tahaddi (MERATH’s partner)!

I take English and Computer courses there, and they helped me water-proof our home this winter, and gave me warm winter blankets and clothes for my daughters, mattresses and a washing machine.

But the most important thing is the work. I am part of the income-generating sewing program. This helped me pay back all the loans that I took for my family to escape the war. I paid off all the relatives and neighbours that we had borrowed from and am debt free now, thank God!

If it wasn’t for Tahaddi, my life would be so difficult. I am so blessed that this aid has come my way. I feel like I am part of the Tahaddi family. I feel like I am one of them, that they don’t see me as the Other. We are all working together.”

Thanks to this income-generating sewing program I benefited from, I paid off all the relatives and neighbours that we had borrowed from and am debt free now, thank God!

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