'Trust no one'

‘Trust no one’. 

The tattoo on the left forearm of the heavily armed Lebanese soldier at the entrance checkpoint of the camp says a lot about how this young man probably has been affected by the history of this country. And exactly trust is what our training with the youth team of Azahir was all about this week.

Azahir is a small and relatively new NGO based in the Palestinian refugee camp Nahr el Bared (cold stream), named after the river that runs through the south side of the camp. The camp is located in the north of Lebanon, between Tripoli and the Syrian border, and is home to around 30.000 displaced Palestinians and their descendants. It exists for more than 70 years and has been facing many (violent) challenges ever since. In 2007 a war broke out between armed militias and the Lebanese army, which killed and displaced many people. The army bombed the camp and destroyed a big part of it, which is still visible and sensible everywhere.

The eleven youngsters (18-21 years old) we worked with grew up in the camp and went through the war at a young age. They are now living under the strict conditions of the Lebanese military forces. They have to pass by a checkpoint every time they enter or leave the camp. They barely feel any freedom. Most of them graduated from university, but are unable to find a job. The living conditions are very harsh and many people are frustrated and depressed.

Azahir created a community center which provides them a place to be part of a community and reach out to the children in the camp. But the challenge they currently face, is that the group struggles to feel and act like a team. Some of them lost trust in the team and motivation regarding to their work with children. So as a start of our new collaboration, we decided to focus on building a stronger team, through music making. 

We can share many stories and details about the journey we took with them. But it is striking to hear them speak after the first level of training:

Duaa:

"We’ve been through a time where we weren’t accepting each other, we were gossiping behind each other’s back. I feel that we’ve changed the state of the group. We’re more connected now and more forgiving to each other."

Nadine:

"I learned each one of us have something to offer. Even though someone is not specialised in a specific thing, he or she is still allowed to pose an idea or have an opinion about it. It’s good to listen to each other, because you can learn something from everyone. Every opinion is valuable."

Ghannam:

"The training was really special. Because it presented a new way of connecting with each other, of listening to each other. We started to know which is the best way to work as one team. Just like the counting game we did. At first we weren’t listening, not waiting and not focussing. But then we started to gradually improve until we counted to ten, and it became successful. I hope we will carry on with that."

We are grateful for the trust of these youngsters, enabling us to step into this process together. What they showed us is their resilience, positive energy and honesty. It creates a strong foundation on which the team can further grow.

Abu Milad

“These four days I consider the best days in the history of Azahir and the work of our team. Because we faced our problems, we didn’t hide anything. We worked hard and it was tiring, but it was good.”