Livelihood Rehabilitation Reaches Tiny Villages of Lebanon

The small village of Sarba, in southern Lebanon, seems an unlikely place for combat. But for 34 days last summer, Israeli bombs fell all around this tiny hamlet, cutting the roads into and out of the village, and leaving some villagers isolated within. For more than 2 weeks, Yusef El Helou was one of those villagers.

“I stayed for the first 17 days, but then we were obliged to leave because it became too severe,” Yusef said. “There was no electricity, no food, no water.”

For Yusef, who lives with his wife Almaza in their small home on a quiet street in Sarba, the war had already taken its toll on his family. In the first days of the conflict, which started on July 12, 2006, Israeli bombs killed the family cow not far from the El Helou home.

“She was eating in a field and she was hit,” Yusef recalled. “The planes bombed the village so we ran to hide. When we came back, we found the cow had been killed.”

And while such a loss would be serious for many farmers, for Yusef and his wife the death of their cow had devastating repercussions. Dependant almost solely on the cow for their family income, the loss was catastrophic.

“We lived from this cow, because it provides milk that we sell on a daily basis,” Yusef said. “Also, my wife makes yogurt from the milk.”

Returning home on the day of the August 14 ceasefire, Yusef found his home only slightly damaged. But with his cow dead, his main source of income was gone. “I found myself jobless, without any income, without anything,” Yusef said.

Within days of his homecoming, however, Yusef was approached by Caritas Lebanon staff members, conducting a survey in the community to see how best they could help.  After providing both food and hygiene kits to Yusef and his wife – some of 6,000 such kits distributed by Caritas Lebanon in the weeks after the war – Yusef learned that Caritas might be able to help in another way.

“When they were making the survey they found out about our cow,” Yusef said. “In about one month they told me they would be able to help me with a cow, and one month later they brought one.”

Classified as extremely vulnerable by Caritas Lebanon because of his limited resources,  Yusef received the cow as part of ongoing livelihood rehabilitation efforts being carried out by Caritas Lebanon, which has transitioned from relief operations during and immediately after the war, to longer term rehabilitation projects. Seeking to reach those directly affected by the war, Caritas funded a wide range of projects in 125 villages in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, from education projects and road reconstruction to psychosocial work and agricultural rehabilitation for farmers who lost their crops during the war. As Lebanon regains its feet nearly one year after the war, such small-scale livelihood projects are reaching those most in need.

Aside from help repairing the roads in Sarba, Caritas also built a small playground for local children, an important addition to the community, where children had few places to play.

For Yusef and his wife, who scraped by selling olive oil from a few trees on their property before receiving the cow from Caritas, the animal proved immediately fruitful. Pregnant at the time she was purchased, she has since delivered a female calf, which will provide a boon for the future.

“I will raise this cow and use it for milk, so I will have twice the income,” Yusef said.

 Today,Yusef and his wife are able once again to support themselves with the sales of their milk and yogurt. It is a small business, but for the El Helou’s it represents a new beginning after the conflict that gripped Sarba last summer.