Overcoming isolation thanks to a community library in Lebanon

Fatima and her husband fell in love and married over 10 years ago, but their marriage had to take place in secret as neither family approved of their match. The reason? Fatima is Muslim and her husband is Christian. The legacy of the civil war, and more recent tensions, mean cross-cultural marriages are rare in Lebanon and families often disapprove.

Although in love and happily married, it was a difficult time for Fatima. She moved in with her new husband at the Dbayeh Palestinian refugee camp, where poverty levels are extremely high. Her husband’s family did not accept her and she remained isolated from the camp’s mainly Christian residents.

Fatima found help through the Dhayeh’s Library and Community Centre, run by Embrace partner the Joint Christian Committee (JCC), which provides regular workshops on a range of topics as well as social services for the camp’s residents:

“Going to JCC helped me to go out of the house, participate to the social life at the camp, invest my time in a fruitful way, feel happy and meet new women during the meetings that turned up to new friends exchanging home visits. These activities helped me to relieve the pressure of life.”

Her two daughters now receive educational support through the library and the family also get food, hygiene items and clothes to help them make ends meet.

“JCC helps us feel that we are not abandoned at the camp, that there’s someone beside us, supporting us in our journey. And, despite the economic problems worldwide, there’s people living abroad that don’t know us in person and still helping us.

For me, JCC are God’s helping hands on earth.”