"I was most afraid for my children, and MAG took the danger away” - Samiha Hijazi, mother of four, Nabatieh
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Wassim Badr Eddine, in the repaired office of his fuel station. |
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Shrapnel damage at Eddine’s fuel station, covered by a new roof. |
The inhabitants of Nabatieh are amongst those who were in danger even after the conflict ended.
Samiha Hijazi lives with her four children and husband in a luxurious villa, tending to the house in the absence of its owners.
She recalled trying to keep herself and her family safe during the war. Initially, they stayed in the basement, before fleeing to a village a few kilometres away and then moving on to the city of Sidon, where they remained until the fighting had finished.
On returning to Nabatieh, they found the house to be heavily damaged. It had numerous indentations in the brickwork from the shrapnel of exploding cluster bomblets, and unexploded cluster submunitions were scattered throughout the grounds.
MAG immediately disposed of the unexploded bombs, whilst the owner of the house took care of the repairs. "I was most afraid for my children, and MAG took the danger away," says Samiha.
Your donation to MAG helps us to move into current and former conflict zones so that communities who have suffered from remnants of conflict can continue to rebuild their lives and secure their livelihoods.
Wassim Badr Eddine, the owner of a fuel station along the busy Nabih Berri highway that connects Nabatieh to Marjeyoun and other towns in South Lebanon, decided to stay during the conflict. On the last day of the war, friends told him there was smoke in the area and he returned to find a neighbour’s truck burning, the windows at his station shattered and unexploded cluster submunitions everywhere.
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MAG and the Lebanese Army cleared 36,000m2 of land in the area, removing and safely destroying 23 'M77' cluster submunitions. Now the station is mostly repaired and fully functional.
Eddine and Hijazi each benefitted twice from MAG’s clearance work: first from the emergency clearance that was done directly after the war in 2006, when cluster submunitions were removed from roadways and rooftops; and later, during the summer of 2008, when MAG returned to finish the initial work and look for submunitions left in the grass and orchards.
Images from MAG's programme in Lebanon following the 2006 war which left the south of the country littered with unexploded munitions:
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR. Photos: JB Russell / MAG.
Links:
- MAG Lebanon microsite - find out more about MAG's work in the country
- Why does MAG work in Lebanon?
- Donate to MAG online - more than 90 per cent of MAG's income is spent directly on clearance programmes
- Other ways to Get Involved - shop, run, walk, skydive, drink wine...
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6 July 09
MAG's work in this article was supported by: Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, US Department of State; UN Human Security Trust Fund.
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