Between May and July 2007, a violent conflict between the Lebanese army and the Fatah el Islam took place in the Nahr el Bared Palestinian refugee camp, located in North Lebanon, between Tripoli and the Syrian border. During this crisis, the camp was almost entirely razed and most of its 30,000 inhabitants lost their homes and their source of income (job, trade, service, etc.).
The economic stimulus programme underway in Nahr el Bared targets 92 shop keepers and craftsmen who lost all or part of their work tools during the destruction of the camp. The aim of the programme is to enable these families to return to long-term economic independence thanks to the revenue generated by their work. To do this, a personalizedprofessionnel kit has been given to each small business man. Individual monitoring and management training will contribute to the viability of the small businesses that we support.
Iftikhar Khalil Abdalla, a 49-year old Lebanese school teacher is one of the beneficiaries of our programme. She ran a nursery school before the conflict. Straight after her High-school diploma in Arabic, she began a teaching career in the private schools of the underprivileged areas where she was badly paid. To support her family, she decided to open her own school, in a Tripoli apartment, the first remedial education centre in the area.
When the school became successful, the owners of the apartment took over the apartment and the activity for themselves. Iftikhar then decided to re-launch her activity in the Nahr el Bared camp for the 2007/2008 school year with three classes and 80 students. The 2007 disaster in the camp forced her to flee and to abandon her project. When she came back, she discovered that her school had been destroyed and pillaged. The losses were estimated at 10,000 USD. She has begun reparations as best as she can and has started to work again: "I had to start again because the good results attracted families".
As she was selected in May 2009 by Première Urgence to participate in the economic stimulus programme for the victims of the Nahr el Bared disaster, financed by the United Nations Development Programme (PNUD), she now works with 30 children in two classes. The Professional Kit given to Iftikhar was comprised essentially of recreational and school supplies (clock, wooden blocks, modelling clay, pencils etc.) for a total value of 3,400 USD. Photo:Iftikhar and her studentsIftikhar's professional kit enabled her to increase her monthly revenue by 150 to 200 USD per month. She plans to generate monthly revenue of 500 USD in the near future, to bring her up to the same income as before the conflict.
Today, Iftikhar is very happy to have benefited from the programme and to have been helped by "an organisation that understands my grief". Now she feels more confident: "My school is a success and things are already beginning to improve".