But amongst all the numbers, the most moving part of my role here in Lebanon working with ICRC is when the story of one person or one family amongst the estimated 1 million refugees in a country of 4 million people catches your attention.
I met Asma (not her real name) in a hospital where she was receiving treatment for wounds she sustained from a bomb blast in Syria. Lying in the bed next to her was her husband also injured in the same bomb blast. A floor below, their 12-year-old son lay in a coma in the ICU, and subsequently died. Another son had already died, and her 6 and 7-year-old children were missing. One son was safe, living with relatives in Yemen. From a ‘rich’ mother of five sons, her entire world was shattered.
Over the weeks since I met Asma, we have been able to give technical advice to the doctors and nurses treating her physical wounds, and see her face light up when we pop in to visit her. She is just one amongst the hundreds of Syrians with war injuries ICRC is supporting with medical care in Lebanon. Each one is important, each one has their own tragic tale, and yet for these Ones it is so gratifying to know we are making a difference.
In coordination with other humanitarian agencies, we provided some 860 families in Aarsal and the nearby town of Labwe with food, mattresses, blankets, etc. "Some of these people had already been displaced more than once inside their own country. They were in dire need of basic assistance," says ICRC head of sub-delegation Ludovic Gonty.
