South Lebanon – His face says a lot despite his silence, he smiles while his tear-filled eyes hide many details about his displacement journey, but he could not hide his fear for his children. Hassan Hamdan fervently tells Al-Jazeera, “What is their fault to live in fear and anxiety,” after being displaced from the village of “Aita al-Shaab” on the Lebanese-Palestinian border to the town of Ansar in the district of Nabatieh, South Lebanon.
Hamdan, a father of four children, including Noor, was forced to flee with them in search of a safe place after his border village was shelled by Israel. He recalled images of the martyrs’ children in Gaza that deeply affected him, prompting him to decide to evacuate to protect his family from danger, seeking tranquility and safety.
Noor Hamdan evacuated with her family from the town of Aita al-Shaab to the town of Ansar (Al-Jazeera)
Play for Relief
In an attempt to alleviate the impact of displacement on children, humanitarian initiatives have been launched to embrace displaced families from the south, including a unique initiative to alleviate the children’s suffering by providing them with games at shelters and using them as a means to relieve their pain and anxiety. These games channel negative energy towards positive activities and enhance their mental health.
Manal al-Suweid, displaced from Kafr Shuba, says that what burdens her the most is the condition of her children. She expressed to Al-Jazeera, “Children feel a lot of pressure and fear, they cannot control their emotions, and they do not know how to deal with them; they are truly the victims.”
She added, “We paid a very high price for displacement, and to alleviate the anxiety and nightmares of my three children, despite the difficult economic situation, I bought them toys as a means to relieve the pain caused by displacement and to bring joy to their hearts even in a simple way.”
Mine Ismail: Providing educational support to children is a form of resistance (Al-Jazeera)
Compensating Loss
On the other hand, the aggression on the border villages in Lebanon left students in limbo. As the school year started, the Minister of Education, Judge Abbas Halabi, issued a decision on October 16 last year to close all schools in the border villages, fearing a worsening humanitarian and security situation.
From here came the initiative of Mrs. Mine Ismail, supervisor and owner of the “Ismail Waked Ismail” school in the southern town of Ansar, in an attempt to contain the repercussions of the aggression on children and alleviate their suffering. She decided – with the help of her family – to welcome the displaced children and integrate them into the school’s education program. She said, “We provided the children with all the necessities of books and stationery, aiming to prevent them from losing the school year.”
She further added to Al-Jazeera, “As a member of the displaced committee in Ansar, we promoted the initiative. We started with a few, but it grew day by day, and we reached 70 students. We provided them with educational and psychological support.”
The spokesperson elaborated in the same context, “Displaced children show signs of psychological exhaustion due to the instability they experienced. Therefore, we engage them in recreational activities like drawing to enhance their expression of their feelings, and today the students are more stable.”
School director Ismael Waked Ismail emphasized, “We accepted the students for free, due to the urgent need of displaced families, especially after the Minister of Education’s decision to admit official schools for the displaced, without including private schools in this decision.”
He explained that they are committed to helping the displaced and securing their future, as they organize classes according to the needs of each displaced student and monitor their progress down to the smallest academic details, also following up with the parents.
The school director did not miss expressing his gratitude to the town residents, the municipality, and all those who contributed to the success of the initiative and helped in achieving it.
Ismael Waked Ismail: We organized the classes according to the needs of each displaced student (Al-Jazeera)
Psychological Struggle
Um Mohammed al-Muadh, a displaced person from the southern border to the city of Tyre, feels anxious despite reaching a safer place. Her 8-year-old son asks her questions to which she cannot answer, such as, “Will we die?”
She said, sorrowfully to Al-Jazeera, “I try to prevent him from watching TV so he does not see nightmares in his sleep, but how can I erase the images that we have been seeing about the children of Gaza, war, destruction, and hearing the sounds of shelling that he heard and experienced during our displacement from southern Lebanon?”
Clinical psychologist Najwa Bannout told Al-Jazeera that “the biggest role lies with parents in how children deal with stress and fear, encouraging them to express their feelings and fears through artistic activities, play, drawing, and physical exercises, and trying to keep them away from watching the news. As much as possible, they must maintain their daily routines like sleeping and waking up.”
Bannout added, “Their recovery capabilities can be enhanced through family and emotional support, promoting positive thinking, avoiding isolation, and refraining from acting as if nothing happened.”
Regarding the long-term effects, Bannout explained that they manifest in sleep disorders, aggressive behavior, educational decline, and post-traumatic stress disorders, which can lead to physical symptoms, and can have a significant impact if immediate intervention is not taken, especially for children whose homes were shelled.
She told Al-Jazeera, “There must be a joint effort between parents and displacement places to ensure a stable environment free from threats, meeting basic needs of food, drink, and sleep, for the support process to be comprehensive both physically and psychologically.”
Welcoming the displaced children and integrating them into the education program as an individual humanitarian initiative (Al-Jazeera)
Tough Reality
The daily life details in the villages of South Lebanon have radically changed since last October 7, with the intensification of Israeli shelling on the towns. This shelling is no longer confined to remote border areas only, but has extended to homes, commercial establishments, agricultural facilities, and even private cars.
According to a report by the United Nations Development Program in Lebanon in December last year, the number of targeted villages exceeded 90 villages. The figures published by the International Organization for Migration and the Ministry of Public Health in Lebanon on February 1st of this year indicated that the number of displaced from the south exceeded 83,000, with 686 injuries and 151 deaths.
