Seven-year-old Rami should be worrying about homework, football with his friends, and which color pencil to use in his notebook. Instead, he is learning what it means to leave home in the middle of fear.
Rami is a Lebanese child from Baalbek. He lives with his parents and his three siblings in a modest home where life has never been easy. His father works as a daily laborer selling vegetables in the market, often leaving early in the morning and returning late in the evening just to provide enough food for the family. His mother suffers from diabetes and cannot work, so the family depends entirely on the father’s unpredictable daily income.
When the bombing intensified, Rami’s family made the difficult decision to leave their home in Douris and seek safety in Deir Al-Ahmar. For the adults, it was a painful but necessary decision. For Rami, it felt like the world he knew suddenly disappeared.
“I was very afraid of the bombing sound,” Rami says quietly, his small voice trembling as he remembers the night they left. “It was very loud.”
In the rush to escape, Rami had to leave behind the things that mattered most to him. His school bag stayed in the house. Inside it were his notebooks, pencils, and something even more precious — a small teddy bear.
The teddy bear was not just a toy. It was a reward from his teacher at the Baalbek learning center after Rami proudly solved a difficult math equation in class. His teacher had given it to him with a smile, telling him he was very clever.
When Rami talks about the teddy bear, his eyes fill with tears. “I forgot my school bag… and my teddy bear,” he says, wiping his face. “My teacher gave it to me because I solved the math.”
For a child, small things carry big meanings. That teddy bear represented pride, encouragement, and the warm feeling of belonging in a classroom filled with friends.
Now in Deir Al-Ahmar, Rami says he feels safer than before. The loud sounds that once made him cry are further away. But safety does not erase the longing for normal life.
What Rami wants is simple. “I want peace,” he says. “I want to go back to my normal life and see my friends again.”
For Rami, peace means a classroom, a school bag on his shoulders, and a teddy bear sitting quietly beside him while he learns his next math lesson.
Like many children affected by displacement, Rami carries both fear and hope in his small heart. And while the world around him feels uncertain, his wish remains beautifully clear — to return to a life where the only challenge he has to solve is the next math equation on the board.
BRIDGE – Basic Relief for internally Displaced Groups in Emergencies
Funded by CFGB — Canadian Foodgrains Bank, with the support of ADRA Canada and other ADRA Network offices, BRIDGE is an emergency food assistance project designed to improve access to food and reduce food insecurity among internally displaced populations through flexible and dignified voucher assistance. The project targets 1,090 highly vulnerable families — approximately 4,905 individuals — living in informal shelters.
LIFE – Solidarity in the Face of Crisis
Through LIFE, a humanitarian food assistance project funded by Polish Aid, ADRA Lebanon aims to improve access to essential food for vulnerable households in Beirut and Mount Lebanon experiencing severe food insecurity and economic hardship.
LIFE project provides electronic food vouchers to 1,565 internally displaced people hosted in collective centers, helping families meet their immediate nutritional needs with dignity and choice.
Continuing the Response
ADRA Lebanon expands its programs and partnerships in order to reach more displaced families through future food assistance initiatives. Additional projects within this emergency response are being developed to address the growing needs of vulnerable communities and help relieve the burden of displacement.
LIFE – Solidarity in the Face of Crisis
Through LIFE, a humanitarian food assistance project funded by Polish Aid, ADRA Lebanon aims to improve access to essential food for vulnerable households in Beirut and Mount Lebanon experiencing severe food insecurity and economic hardship.
LIFE project provides electronic food vouchers to 1,565 internally displaced people hosted in collective centers, helping families meet their immediate nutritional needs with dignity and choice.
Continuing the Response
ADRA Lebanon expands its programs and partnerships in order to reach more displaced families through future food assistance initiatives. Additional projects within this emergency response are being developed to address the growing needs of vulnerable communities and help relieve the burden of displacement.
Helping Restore Dignity
Thousands of displaced families are finding relief, dignity, and renewed hope through ADRA Lebanon’s assistance.
‘The living situation is very hard. Things are very expensive—not like before. It’s been around for years now, and we’re not living a normal life anymore. Honestly, we can’t afford the basic standard of living we should have. Even small things have become difficult to buy—you have to think ten times before buying anything.
I want to thank ADRA and the donors because they are thinking about us and sharing our situation with others—that there are many marginalized people, many who are suffering quietly and not really living properly.’
(Project participant from Dahieh — Lebanon, April 14)
