Catholic aid agency in Lebanon on Syria’s refugees and conflict
February 02 ,2013: The Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA)’s regional director
in Lebanon expressed frustration over his small aid agency’s ability to meet the growing
needs of Syria’s refugees and displaced people. And, he said there’s no end in sight
to the Syrian conflict, Issam Bishara, responsible for Lebanon, Syria and Egypt, was
speaking to Vatican Radio on Friday. “This is beyond the capacity or ability of
any one or even (more than one) organization. This has to be treated at the level
of the United Nations, at the level of large donations from rich countries if you
will in North America, in Europe”, said Bishara.
Small organizations like CNEWA,
Bishara said, are limited in the amount of help they can offer to the more than 500,000
refugees now in Jordan and Lebanon alone. But giving up before you’ve even tried is
something he has never contemplated.
“You could always blame the darkness or
you could light a candle,” said Bishara. “So what we’re doing is actually helping
now. Our target is 2,100 (displaced) families inside Syria and we have been able to
provide lots of really needed items including food and other items.”
Many of
the families receiving CNEWA’s help in Syria he said, have fled to other parts of
the country from fighting in Homs, Aleppo and Damascus. They are living in extremely
difficult circumstances.
CNEWA, he explained, is working with eight to nine
partners including different churches and religious congregations, congregations of
nuns, the Jesuit fathers, and St. Vincent de Paul. Thanks to these partnerships, CNEWA
is able to help provide food rations, blankets, mattresses, heating apparatus and
fuel for heaters among other things.
Asked about how a peaceful solution to
the Syrian conflict may be achieved, Bishara said: “Unfortunately, of what we’re
seeing in Syria, it doesn’t seem to be coming to an end soon. The regime is still
fighting, the Syrian Free Army is still fighting and getting lots of ammunition and
firearms as well… but it seems like it’s going to go on for some more time and unfortunately
this means that lots more people will die” Bishara added.