I was on a conference call yesterday* when someone casually mentioned “did you see what happened in Lebanon?” My heart sank as I thought of all the worst possible scenarios. Unfortunately, what happened was worse than I or anyone else could have imagined.

I couldn't stay on the call, I hung up. Not only are there several refugee camps in and around Beirut where UNRWA provides services, but I’m half Lebanese, so I have family there. 

A video of a massive mushroom cloud explosion filled my social media feeds. My dad immediately got on the phone with our cousin who runs an NGO in Beirut, all the office windows were blown out, but she was safely on her way home.

He called each cousin one by one, one cousin’s wife was already in the hospital getting her face and head stitched up due to an injury sustained from the explosion. I’m just so thankful they’re all alive and safe now.

As the day went on, I learned more information, St. George Hospital and others were destroyed, limiting the spaces available for the more than 3,000 injured to be treated.

As I’m writing this, we still don’t have full clarity on what happened. What we do know, is that the people living in Lebanon urgently need us to send relief.

Lebanon’s 475,075 Palestine refugees are already deprived of a living wage and enough food due to their refugee status and/or Lebanon’s economic free-fall and are living in fear of the scourge of COVID-19. This is to say, that Palestine refugees in Lebanon needed us before the deadly explosion, and they’re going to need us even more now, so please rush any urgent support you can offer.

Most of my friends and family have been hesitant to send donations to Lebanon unsure of where the money will end up, and how it will get used. If you want to support one of the most vulnerable populations in Lebanon now, I urge my fellow Americans to choose UNRWA. UNRWA is a UN Agency, it has had operations on the ground since 1950, and it’s guaranteed the funds you send via UNRWA USA will be implemented to provide urgent humanitarian assistance for refugees.

Right now is an unsettling time for all of us, but being stronger together in times of uncertainty is what makes our UNRWA USA community unlike any other. Please rush your donation so we can put it to work right away. No gift is too small.

Any amount you generously give can provide urgent assistance for the dire needs of Palestine refugees in Lebanon who look to UNRWA, and us, as their leading source of relief. 

Written by Laila Mokhiber, UNRWA USA Director of Communications, August 5, 2020

*Tuesday, August 4, 2020