STORY SUMMARY
A family gathers around a fireplace inside their tent in Zahle, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2013. (The Daily Star/Mohammad Azakir)
Less than an hour later, the gray skies delivered the first snowfall of the winter, which pelted the plastic sheeting covering the Bazazi family tent, as Sleiman played with his stuffed lion, or “assad” in Arabic.
“One young Assad made us flee, and you bring out another assad?” laughs Khaled al-Bazazi, Sleiman’s father, as he pours a cup of sweet tea.
But the laughter belies the fear among the community that they will be abandoned to freeze amid the harsh winter of the Bekaa Valley, where thousands of refugees are staying in ramshackle tents with nothing between them and the biting cold except small stoves and wood blocks whose prices they may no longer be able to afford soon. The Daily Star spent Tuesday night with Khaled’s family as they struggled to stave off cold, boredom and painful memories.
By Tuesday afternoon, the cold rain has left much of the camp coated in mud.
Dark has descended on the camp by 5 p.m., the cold rain a fitting tribute to a chilling tale.
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2013/Dec-12/240756-a-cold-night-with-refugees-in-the-bekaa-valley.ashx#ixzz2nFFAiKVF
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
Categories: Arab World, Asia, Lebanon, Syria