LEBANON-CHARITY/REFUGEES Tripoli festival aims to bring divided communities together

Record ID: 151403

  • Title: LEBANON-CHARITY/REFUGEES Tripoli festival aims to bring divided communities together
  • Date: 16th June 2015
  • Summary: TRIPOLI, LEBANON (JUNE 14, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CHILDREN PLAYING
  • Embargoed: 1st July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAEEXQQ44FLPWPE00C03ELOQ9P8
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Face painting, singing, and dancing, were just some of the activities enjoyed by Lebanese and Syrian children at a one-day festival in Tripoli aimed at bringing the two communities together.
    With large numbers of Syrian refugees having fled across the border, there are rising tensions between the host country and the new arrivals.
    The UK-based charity Oxfam, which organised Sunday's event (June 14), said it wanted to bring the communities together and came up with the festival idea after working with people in the local area.
    "We listen to what they want, we don't tell them to what to do. One way we do it is by using committees. So we try and unite people together and agree on social and development issues they need," said Nour Shawaf.
    Syrian refugee Fadia Merhi fled her hometown of Homs four years ago.
    Now settled in Lebanon, she said it was an ideal opportunity for the different communities to come together and get to know one another.
    "There is a large turnout today - both us and the Lebanese. We are cooperating hand in hand with the Lebanese. There's mixing between the Lebanese and the Syrians, Lebanese children and Syrian children so that they are integrated and like siblings together without any distinction between them, between Syrians and Lebanese. The Syrians are happy and the Lebanese are happy. The children are really happy with the festival," she said.
    The festival took place in the district of Bab al-Tabbaneh, a Sunni Muslim neighbourhood that has witnessed outbreaks of violence with the adjacent Alawite neighborhood of Jebel Mohsen.
    The area has often turned into a frontline for conflict between Sunni and Alawite communities, particularly since Syria's civil war erupted.
    Festival-goers said they appreciated the opportunity to bring harmony to an otherwise difficult situation.
    "To get to know one another, whether we are Lebanese or Syrian, as we are living in the same area. They created these festivals to bring people together," said Asef Ahmad Safetli.
    Over four years of civil war across the border in Syria means that one in every four people now in Lebanon is a refugee.
    Many live in extreme poverty and face hostility and resentment in the fragile Mediterranean state, which has long dominated by its bigger neighbour.
    The Lebanese government has struggled to provide for the refugees during a period of economic slowdown and resentment among the Lebanese population has spilled over into attacks on Syrians.
    Lebanon, whose population is less than five million, hosts more than a million Syrian refugees and has the highest per capita concentration of refugees in the world. The government started restricting refugees late last year.
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