- Title: Syrian refugees in Lebanon hope to return home in 2017
- Date: 5th January 2017
- Summary: AKKAR, LEBANON (JANUARY 4, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF REFUGEES GATHERING IN TENTED REFUGEE SETTLEMENT IN AKKAR, NORTH LEBANON VARIOUS OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN WALKING IN SETTLEMENT MAN WALKING ON PATH BETWEEN TENTS / MORE SYRIAN REFUGEES IN BACKGROUND (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SYRIAN REFUGEE FROM HOMS AL QUSAIR, ENAM EL KHALED, SAYING: "Look at how we are living, come see how we live in rain and water, this situation demands a God, it is a hard and tight situation, we are not happy. We hope to go back to our country as soon as possible and God solve this crisis." CHILDREN GATHERING NEAR TENTS VARIOUS OF TENTS AND WATER TANKS INSIDE REFUGEE TENTED SETTLEMENT PATH BETWEEN TENTS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SYRIAN REFUGEE FROM HOMS AL QUSAIR, SLEIMAN ADNAN EL HOURANI, SAYING: "I hope it will be a good year for everyone, and that our situation gets better and we could go back to Syria, in God's will, and God is generous. We like for our children to have a higher level of education, some of them aren't learning enough, they are only studying to catch up, they go to school but the curriculum they have is different from what they used to learn." GIRLS MOPPING FLOOR NEAR TENTS CHILD STANDING NEAR TENT VARIOUS OF CHILDREN NEAR SETTLEMENT WOMAN TALKING CHILDREN GATHERING NEAR TENT CHILDREN PLAYING VARIOUS OF CLOTHES HANGING BETWEEN TENTS MAN CROUCHING BY THE WALL AND USING MOBILE PHONE REFUGEE TENTED SETTLEMENT
- Embargoed: 20th January 2017 12:40
- Keywords: refugees crisis Syria Lebanon 2017 hopes settlements aspirations conflict
- Location: AKKAR, LEBANON
- City: AKKAR, LEBANON
- Country: Lebanon
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Civil Unrest
- Reuters ID: LVA0015XT0NKL
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Refugees living in a refugee camp in northern Lebanon are yearning to return home as another new year began.
Inside the informal refugee tented settlement of Akkar in northern Lebanon, Enam el Khaled is asking for God's help in what she describes as a "hopeless" situation.
"Look at how we are living, come see how we live in rain and water, this situation demands a God, it is a hard and tight situation, we are not happy. We hope today before any day to go back to our country and God solve this crisis," said Khaled, a Syrian refugee from Homs.
Other displaced Syrians living in the camp hold a more optimistic outlook on the future. And for Sleiman Adnan El Hourani, the most important thing is that his children get a proper education.
"I hope it will be a good year for everyone, and that our situation gets better and we could go back to Syria, in God's will, and God is generous. We like for our children to have a higher level of education, some of them aren't learning enough, they are only studying to catch up, they go to school but the curriculum they have is different from what they used to learn," he said.
Some 200,000 refugee children are out of formal education, even with Lebanese and international efforts to increase the number attending public schools.
More than 1.5 million Syrian refugees, including 500,000 children, are currently residing in Lebanon -- the country with the highest concentration relative to its own population with nearly one in five people a refugee.
In an attempt to boost education for young refugees, Lebanon has launched a campaign to enroll 200,000 children in public schools, expanding a "second shift" system of additional afternoon classes exclusively for Syrians.
However for many Syrians living in Akkar, their main hope is to get back to their homeland.
"I really hope that the situation gets better and we could go back to Syria our country and our home," said a Syrian woman living in the settlement.
The United Nations estimates the Syrian civil war has killed 400,000 and displaced millions.
The conflict began in 2011 with protests against four decades of Assad family rule. About a quarter of a million people have been killed and 11 million - half the total population - have been driven from their homes.
In 2015, according to the United Nations, of the total of 65.3 million forcibly displaced people around the globe, 21.3 million were refugees, 40.8 million internally displaced and 3.2 million asylum seekers. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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