It’s August 2020, and no one could have predicted the world would look the way it does. This includes Chaker Khazaal, who traveled to Beirut in February of this year to work on a project, on what was meant to be a short visit. About to return to his home in New York, he was met with the sudden, shocking jolt all of us felt around the globe — a global pandemic putting the world at standstill, and then free fall.

He has been in Beirut since then, and since that time Lebanon has witnessed the worst financial collapse in its modern history, deterioration and devaluation of its currency, political turmoil, and most recently, a massive explosion that has devastated the lives of thousands, leaving in its wake hundreds of thousands homeless, thousands injured, and over 200 dead.

You may know Chaker’s name because your bookshelf houses the acclaimed novels Confessions of a War Child or Tale of Tala. Or you have probably read a piece by him in the Huffington Post on his extensive travels to various conflict zones and refugee camps. But Chaker is also a Palestine refugee who grew up in Burj El Barajneh, a refugee camp where UNRWA provides services, a few miles south of Beirut.

He recalls accompanying his grandfather to UNRWA clinics as a child, the only place for him as Palestine refugee in Lebanon to receive medical care. He fondly thinks back to his appointments where various UNRWA doctors and nurses would advise his grandfather to cut back on sweets and take his medications to regulate his diabetes; but to ask an elderly Palestinian man to give up knafeh, a sweet reminder of his homeland Palestine is easier said than done, even under doctor’s orders! In response to the US funding cut to UNRWA, Chaker shared publicly how UNRWA has not only supported his grandfather, but millions of Palestine refugees in the Middle East, including many of his other family members and friends in Lebanon: “Almost all my family went to UNRWA schools; this is why today I have a relative, who couldn’t access public schools in Lebanon, who is a film director, and a friend who is a teacher, and another who is a nurse. [Palestine refugees] are stateless people (for 70 years now) who rely on UNRWA to lead a dignified life.”

Chaker visiting the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem

Chaker has lived in New York since 2013, and like any true New Yorker, he sings its praises at its first mention, making note that “everyone in their 30s should live there.” Like most refugees, he has the ability to camouflage his many identities and homes: he grew up in Lebanon, his family originally hails from Palestine, he has Canadian citizenship, resides in New York, and he calls them all home.

He states: “As a refugee, there’s a place you left and a place that welcomed you. Refugees understand best what it’s like to have different identities and love many places; for me, that’s Palestine, Lebanon, Canada, and the US. A refugee knows what it’s like to be displaced and long for belonging. Lebanon is a place I’ve always belonged to, so when something happens to Lebanon, whether I see it in the news or I’m there in person, it feels like an attack on my nation as well.”

So this past week when Lebanon, a tiny country known for its strength and resilience, was once again shaken by tumult, Chaker witnessed this upset firsthand. He shared that “people have come into a depression. First, it was shocking, but now, people are going back to see their homes, destroyed by the damage of the blast. It’s difficult now because they must rebuild, and glass is expensive. Many of these homes are not insured. So we’ve shifted to a mode of depression. But some corners have been depressed for decades though, especially the areas where Palestinians live. This blast has taken away the last ounce of oxygen, with the vulnerable of Beirut facing a peak of depression — life or death.”

Being on the ground in Beirut, Chaker commented that there are various organizations that are trying to pick up the pieces, and the help is greatly needed. He asserts: “UNRWA is assisting Palestine refugees in Lebanon who are victims of a collapsing economy, who were given some support, but now even this support is drying up.”

When the blast occurred, Chaker was in a hotel taking a break with a friend who he was working with on a project. He was shaken on many levels because the sounds of bombs going off are sounds he has not heard since childhood (Burj El Barajneh was partially destroyed during the Israeli invasion in 1982 and then during the Lebanese civil war). It opened up a “closet of trauma” from his youth and a reminder of what it’s like to be out of control, confused, and fearful. When he heard the blast, he thought a bomb went off or an explosion occurred in the hotel; he recalls the glass everywhere, sprinting down the stairs, and running for his life.

The aftermath of the explosion on August 4, 2020: debris-strewn lobby and a selfie of Chaker, who witnessed the blast first-hand

While Chaker hasn’t revisited Burj El Barajneh since being back in Lebanon, he has heard inspirational stories from friends who still live in the camp he grew up in. Many Palestine refugees ran to the assistance of others affected by the explosion. Haifa Hospital, based in Burj, took many Lebanese patients, an act of solidarity between the people of Palestine and Lebanon.

Chaker remarks: “It is a sight of beauty amid the chaos. In the face of rhetoric around differences, Palestine refugees ran to help those who they see as their community members, their friends, their brothers and sisters.”

For those looking to respond to the needs of people in Lebanon in the aftermath of the devastating August 4 explosion, you can provide direct cash assistance to Palestine refugee families by donating to UNRWA USA’s urgent relief fund. This is key to empowering refugees to make their own decisions about their needs, which they know best, and to help boost the failing economy in Lebanon.