MEET PASTOR NEHAD

When my wife and I saw in the news that a refugee settlement in North Lebanon had been set on fire by Lebanese youth[1], it just broke our hearts. We have been living in Lebanon for a while, but we are from Syria too and our church in Lebanon has been serving our vulnerable refugee brothers and sisters for a long time. Besides, we are the lucky parents of a one-year-old boy, and we just could not bear the sight of all the little children of this camp left with nothing else than the pajamas they were wearing the night of the torching.

Although we live in Beirut, we felt compelled to help in any way we could, and to try to comfort and encourage the people there. So we visited the camp on the third day after the fire and we talked to families and to the responsible of the camp to identify the needs we could help respond to. The women we talked to were crying, and the children didn’t even have jackets on and hadn’t changed clothes in days. It was obvious they needed pretty much everything.

Because we seek to be peacemakers, we decided to involve the local authorities and to provide our assistance in collaboration with the municipality. They were very surprised and appreciative of our help. Besides, they are the only ones who know who really is from the camp and we want to encourage them as much as we can to reach out to the refugees around them and build bridges between Lebanese and Syrians, especially at a time when tensions are on the rise.

We had already started distributing the winter items MERATH provided us with, but we still had about 50 electric heaters and 50 blankets that we happily gave away. On top of that, we were able to provide jackets, milk, and diapers for the children, as well as food packages. We do everything out of compassion and because we believe it is our calling as Christians. We know from the Bible that when we feed the hungry, it is as if we were feeding Jesus.

[1] NBC News, Hundreds of Syrian refugees flee Lebanon camp as tents torched, December 27, 2020.