Would-be donors get guided tour of Nahr al-Bared
13 Jun 2008
NAHR AL-BARED REFUGEE CAMP: Representatives of potential donors toured the war-ravaged ghost town of the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp on Thursday, less than two weeks before a donor conference in Vienna to collect pledges for the estimated $450 million needed to rebuild the camp and surrounding communities.
The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) led the 18 delegates through the old camp, the area on the shore of the Mediterranean that was hardest hit during the three-month conflict in mid-2007 between the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and Fatah al-Islam militants.
"Showing the camp is much more effective than five reports," said Henri Disselkoen, the UNRWA project manager responsible for the camp's reconstruction, adding that the goal of the expedition was to motivate donors to contribute funds at the June 23 donor conference in Vienna.
The trip came three days after UNRWA and government officials brought together diplomats from nearly all the foreign embassies in Lebanon to unveil the rebuilding plans, which in a best-case scenario would see the camp's reconstruction finishing by June 2011. UNRWA on June 5 had invited dignitaries and journalists into the old camp for the first time to launch the removal of rubble from the wreckage of the UNRWA headquarters in the old camp.
UNRWA ran five schools at the sea's edge, but only the skeletons of two remain. The roofs and floors of neighboring buildings dangle perpendicular to the ground, pressed together with only the steel reinforcing bars inside them keeping them from collapsing.
Lorea Uribarri, representing Spain, said she had never seen anything like the perforated concrete jumble left after the battle.
"What can I say?" she asked.
Other countries represented on the tour included Australia, Canada, France, Japan, Jordan, the Netherlands and the UK.
The delegates also walked among some of the 547 temporary housing unites UNRWA has erected in the new camp, the area adjacent to, and less damaged than, the old camp. The two-story corrugated metal units run in rows of 11, and their inhabitants have set up fruit and vegetable stands among the prefabricated structures. Each gust of wind sent clouds of dust toward the dwellings from the unpaved roads next to the units.
A weeping woman confronted the representatives and Diseelkoen as they moved between the rows, telling them that her children had to study in a garage. Of the official count of 5,449 families who lived in the camp before the conflict, almost 2,000 families have returned to live in the new camp, although some residents live in other people's homes. More than 2,000 more families are receiving a $200 monthly rental subsidies to live outside the camp, according to UNRWA statistics.
A man who gave his name as Abu Nasser presented a letter to Disselkoen detailing his complaints about the living conditions, saying during the winter water ran freely into the housing units. The project manager said investigators would contact Abu Nasser, as an independent oversight team had just started work and would begin looking into residents' claims within two weeks. Abu Nasser said UNRWA promised him to address his grievances before, but nothing had happened.
Residents also noticed that as summer arrived, temperatures soared in the metal structures, so UNRWA has made plans to install shields to deflect the sun and purchase ceiling fans by the end of June, Disselkoen said.
The donor representatives also toured the prefabricated school next to the housing units, where bars and chicken wire cover the school's windows. The students attend the school in shifts, with one group taking classes in the morning and early afternoon, before another group has its school day begin in the afternoon. With the limitations in time and space, the students are not receiving the full load of courses they had before the fighting, Disselkoen said.
"It is true that some corners have been cut on material that will not be on the exam" that ends secondary-school study, Disselkoen added.
The academic year began late for students because of battle's aftermath, so pupils will continue classes into the summer holiday, while two UNRWA schools in the neighboring Beddawi refugee camp have class seven days per week, he said. UNRWA plans include two more schools this fall and extracurricular activities to mitigate the psycho-social trauma, he added.