The Daily Star - Local charity donates Christmas food parcels to Iraqi refugee families, December 24th 2011

By Olivia Alabaster

BEIRUT: Over 1,200 Iraqi refugee families received food parcels Friday, at a Christmas event coordinated by the charity organization Farah al-Ata or the Joy of Giving.

The NGO, created during the Civil War, holds similar events every year, but this is the first time they have extended the donations to include Iraqi refugees rather than solely impoverished Lebanese families.

A Christmas play was held Thursday evening, during which gifts were given to all the children, and during Friday’s event, held at the boys’ school in Sadd al-Boushrieh in Greater Beirut, boxes of rice, sugar, oil and other basic foodstuffs were distributed to each family.

Marc Torbey, a banker who has volunteered with the organization for six years, said that the event encapsulates everything that the NGO stands for.

“Joy of Giving was created with its main purpose being to bring together all Lebanese, without distinctions, whether religious or regional, and this event fits in with that philosophy,” he said.

“We want to help the Iraqi people in Lebanon understand that they are not spending Christmas time alone. Today is about happiness and the joy of sharing with other people.”

There are around 10,000 refugees in Lebanon, excluding Palestinians, and 80 percent of these are from Iraq, according to the U.N. High Commission for Refugees.

Denied the right to work legally, many Iraqi refugees in Lebanon struggle to make ends meet, and, not knowing when they will be granted asylum in a third country, they often live a static existence.

Over 70 volunteers helped with Friday’s event, all high school or university students. The contents of the food parcels were partly donated by students at universities around Lebanon, with the rest contributed by the NGO. “It doesn’t take a lot to help out at Christmas. These people are our brothers,” Torbey added.

For Janine Ayoub, who works and volunteers with the NGO, refugees must not be forgotten at any time of year, but in particular, at Christmas.

“All refugees should be able to have a decent holiday,” she said.

“Today’s event is about saying that no matter what your religion or your country you are a human just like me, and you deserve to have a good life.”

For Torbey also, the links between the NGO and the Iraqi refugee community are doubly important as they allow both groups to share their experiences of history.

“From our experience with the Civil War, we have an understanding of what they are going through in Iraq: the cause, the effects, the problems,” he said. “And we want to share our experiences with these people, and to help them to understand that they have to unite, as a people, to get out of this crisis.”

“If they divide, like we did, their suffering will just continue,” he added.

Noori Emad arrived in Lebanon over a year ago, having left his job as a doctor in Baghdad. Volunteering Friday, Emad said the event was a great opportunity to help out those in need, while bringing people together.

“This event allows Lebanese youth and Iraqis to get to know each other and help each other,” he said.

In terms of the content of the boxes, Emad said the food donations would be a welcome addition to many families’ Christmases, as they receive very little help from elsewhere.

Emad will spend Christmas at home in Beirut with his family, but their interim position as refugees means the festivities will have to be more restrained than normal.

“We are just waiting,” he said. Not knowing when they will be resettled to the United States, where they have applied for asylum, “... we can’t do anything in this frozen condition. And we have no idea what the future will hold.”

“We have very limited funds, and as we don’t know when we will next work, or how long we will be here, we have to be very conservative with money,” he added.

Following the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq last week, the government has been beset by crises, with Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki calling for the arrest of Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi and a wave of bombings killing 72 people across the country Thursday alone.

“I’m not feeling good about the U.S. withdrawal, and I’m not feeling hopeful that I will be able to return to my country,” Emad said.

But Emad is remaining positive about what 2012 has in store. “We have to remain optimistic, my religion teaches me that. I am just thankful to be here, to be alive. I lived in Iraq for eight years after the U.S. invasion, and I survived, while I watched many friends die.”