Hafiza Abu Hamdi, a 63-year-old Palestine refugee, has been living in Beddawi camp since she and her family were displaced from Tel Zaatar camp in Beirut, which was destroyed during the Lebanese Civil War in 1976. She lives with two of her daughters; her husband has died and the rest of her daughters and sons are married. Hafiza cares for one of her daughters, 37-year-old Inaam; Inaam was born with cerebral palsy, which significantly limits her movement and affects her bodily functions.
Hafiza and her family suffered from the poor conditions of their house, which caused serious health problems. “Our house was without any ventilation, resulting in no sunlight or fresh air and high humidity causing bad odours,” she explains. “I was admitted to the hospital on several occasions, and a cardiologist advised me to move to another home. But this, I could not afford to do.”
Hafiza’s shelter was just one of the more than 7,000 shelters in Palestine refugee camps in Lebanon that require rehabilitation. The European Union is helping to rehabilitate 400 of them as part of the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument II (ENPI II). The European Union contributions have supported more than half of all of the rehabilitated shelters to date.
Through the UNRWA self-help shelter rehabilitation project that the European Union supports, Hafiza was able to address the issues in her house and improve her family’s living conditions. The self-help approach directly involves the families whose shelters are being rehabilitated, like Hafiza’s, respecting their dignity, generating employment within the local economy and reducing the costs of rehabilitation. With the Agency’s technical support and supervision, families help prioritize the rehabilitation works in the shelter, identify local labourers to undertake the works and oversee the implementation.
Hafiza can’t help but smile while talking about the positive impact that this support has had on her and her family. “After receiving this assistance, we added wide windows to our shelter, which now allow sunlight and air to come into the house,” she says. “We repainted the house after the rehabilitation and expansion. We also improved the bathroom to make it suitable for my daughter, Inaam. It has become so much easier for us to help her. This is important because she can’t move alone.”
She adds that the rehabilitation of her house has changed her family’s living and health conditions immensely. “I’m very thankful to the European Union for their support, especially for the sake of my daughter,” she says. “Without their assistance, our home would have remained unlivable, and it would have been more difficult for me to care for her. I would like to ask donors to assist the remaining families whose shelters need rehabilitation.”
EU AND UNRWA: TOGETHER FOR PALESTINE REFUGEES
Since 1971, the European Union and UNRWA have maintained a strategic partnership governed by the shared objective to support the human development, humanitarian and protection needs of Palestine refugees and promote stability in the Middle East. Today, the European Union is the largest multilateral provider of international assistance to Palestine refugees. This reliable and predictable support from the European Union enables UNRWA to provide core services to more than 5 million Palestine refugees in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza, including quality education for roughly half a million children and primary health care for more than 3.5 million patients. Collectively, the EU and its Member States are also among the largest contributors to the Agency’s humanitarian emergency appeals and projects in response to various crises and specific needs across the region. The partnership between the European Union and UNRWA has allowed millions of Palestine refugees to be better educated, live healthier lives, access employment opportunities and improve their living conditions, thus contributing to the development of the entire region.