Amara Taleb, 37, is photographed at a Danish Refugee Council project to build a public garden in the town of Hrar, in Lebanon's northern Akkar governate, on November 28, 2017.
Amara, from Akkar, said she was enjoying doing construction work – an unusual vocation for women in Lebanese society.
"It's hard, but it gives me my dignity." she said. "From the money I get I can live, and I don't have to rely on anyone. I'm independent."
She added: "The men and women are just as good as each other at this job. And Syrians and Lebanese are working together like sisters and brothers. We all work as a family."
DRC is paying both Syrian refugees and Lebanese to build the park and is also helping with projects to grow rare herbs on land donated by the local municipality and re-plant pine trees.
In Lebanon, more than one million Syrian refugees who are registered with UNHCR live in non-camp settings.
Host communities are increasingly in competition for jobs, wages and affordable housing. Overall perceptions of the crisis are having a negative impact on social cohesion, particularly in areas with a high concentration of refugees.
Reem, 22, from Deir Ezzour in Syria poses for a portrait in the tent in which her family live in an informal settlement for Syrian refugees in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, on November 29, 2017.
In Lebanon, more than one million Syrian refugees who are registered with UNHCR live in non-camp settings.
Host communities are increasingly in competition for jobs, wages and affordable housing. Overall perceptions of the crisis are having a negative impact on social cohesion, particularly in areas with a high concentration of refugees.
Mariam Al Jasm, 25, from Homs in Syria poses for a photograph in the room where she repairs fishing nets at a fishing port in Tripoli, Lebanon, on November 28, 2017.
Mariam, a refugee, fled her home in 2011 after her neighbourhood was targeted by airstrikes. Her husband suffered an injury to his leg so finds it hard to work, leaving her the main breadwinner for their family.
"Our condition is bad," said the mother of one. "There's no work, it's really bad."
Mariam said that despite the hardships she faced, returning to Syria was impossible. "There's no safe place in Syria. Sometimes people say it's safe to return but the war always comes back. We don't trust what they say any more."
Mariam was trained to repair the fishing nets as part of a program by the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) to provide employment opportunities to both Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Lebanese people living in the communities that shelter them.
In the same area, DRC also rehabilitated a fish market to help local fishermen better sell their catches.
In Lebanon, more than one million Syrian refugees who are registered with UNHCR live in non-camp settings.
Host communities are increasingly in competition for jobs, wages and affordable housing. Overall perceptions of the crisis are having a negative impact on social cohesion, particularly in areas with a high concentration of refugees.
Mustapha, 7, and Abdu Rahman, 10, Syrian refugees from Homs and Aleppo province play in the grounds of the Good Shepherd Sisters Center in Deir al Ahmar, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, on February 5, 2015.
The Good Shepherd Sisters are a local partner of CRS in Lebanon.Their centre provides a range of classes to some 350 refugee children, as well as a hot meal for every child, every day of the school year. During what has been so far a particularly difficult winter for the refugees in Lebanon, the Sisters have provided the children at the centre with winter clothes and also provided winter assistance to the nearby informal tent-settlements in which they live.
With CRS funds, the Sisters are also organizing summer camps during which they conduct different activities, animation and they distribute snacks to the children.
There are currently some 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, a country of just some 4.5 million people. Nearly 4 million Syrians have fled their country since peaceful protests of 2011 gave way to a brutal civil war in 2012.
Jamili, 5, from Deir Ezzour in Syria, stands with friends in an informal settlement for Syrian refugees in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, on November 29, 2017.
In Lebanon, more than one million Syrian refugees who are registered with UNHCR live in non-camp settings.
Host communities are increasingly in competition for jobs, wages and affordable housing. Overall perceptions of the crisis are having a negative impact on social cohesion, particularly in areas with a high concentration of refugees.
Esraa, 4, from Deir Ezzour in Syria stands by the tent in which her family in an informal settlement for Syrian refugees in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, on November 29, 2017.
In Lebanon, more than one million Syrian refugees who are registered with UNHCR live in non-camp settings.
Host communities are increasingly in competition for jobs, wages and affordable housing. Overall perceptions of the crisis are having a negative impact on social cohesion, particularly in areas with a high concentration of refugees.
Abdul Ghrada, 10, from Deir Ezzour in Syria, plays in puddles of rain water in an informal settlement for Syrian refugees in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, on November 29, 2017.
In Lebanon, more than one million Syrian refugees who are registered with UNHCR live in non-camp settings.
Host communities are increasingly in competition for jobs, wages and affordable housing. Overall perceptions of the crisis are having a negative impact on social cohesion, particularly in areas with a high concentration of refugees.
REAL NAMES Udai Mansour Ahmad Brahim
Qusay, 14, and Mahmoud, 14, both from Damascus in Syria walk through the informal refugee settlement that they now call home near the town of Zahle in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, on January 25, 2016.
Oxfam currently provides safe, clean drinking water to some 5,000 of the most vulnerable Syrian refugees in Lebanon at over 120 informal settlements. Furthermore, Oxfam provides toilets to almost 7,000 refugees at over 160 informal settlements.
As the Syrian civil war drags toward its 5th anniversary, there are, according to UNHCR, currently 1.07 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Those that live in informal settlements face harsh conditions.
Yasser Abbas, 40, from Aleppo in Syria, takes a break to pray during work on a project funded by the Danish Refugee Council to make an irrigation channel for farm land in Wadi Khaled, Akkar, Lebanon, on December 14, 2017.
Head of Wadi Khaled municipality, Mohammed Ismael said "It's been 15 years since this land saw water. The project is giving people a chance to work, and for the farmers to get water. It will allow more production of vegetables and fruits, so the Lebanese can raise their income and also there will be more jobs for the Syrians."
Yasser fled to Lebanon in 2012 to escape the war in Syria, bringing his wife and two children.
"Before the war I had my own home. Now I rent a small cabin," the former primary school teacher said. "It's so hard to find work. It's the first time I work since coming here. All I care about now is my kids so I'll do any work."
Akkar, historically the poorest region of Lebanon, now hosts as refugee population of 4,500, almost matching its resident population of 6,500. According to the head of Wadi Khaled municipality, Mohammed Ismael, although employment opportunities are scarce in his area, many of the refugees are unable to secure the proper papers to travel elsewhere for work.
The project is part of a livelihoods program run by DRC that brings together Lebanese and Syrian men and women, giving them employment but also providing an opportunity to break down barriers between the two communities and decrease tensions.
Wahak, 13, carries her 6-month old XXbrother??XX Khaled in a makeshift tented community in Lebanon's Bekaa valley that has become home to some 150 families who have fled the conflict in neighboring Syria. Wahak arrived here with her family 6 months ago. The families here live with little protection from the elements in homes made of plastic sheeting and scavenged materials, such as burlap sacks and old billboard banners. Despite the cold already setting in, many of the children still lack proper winter clothes and footwear to adequately protect them from the cold. Save The Children has launched an appeal to raise funds to meet the desperate need of refugee families ahead of the cold winter months. Funds raised will got to improving shelter, providing heating fuel and stoves, and other essentials such as blankets and warm clothes to protect the children and their families from the bitter cold.
Over 2.5 million people have been displaced within Syria by ongoing fighting. More than 400,000, registered refugees are now in neighbouring countries, more than half of which are children, and the UN is expecting that figure to reach 700,000 by the end of the year. Save the Children believes the true number of refugees is likely to be much higher.
Photo:Sam Tarling/Save The Children, November 22 2012![Tents are reflected in flood water at an informal Syrian refugee camp in Minieh, North Lebanon, on 13 January 2013. The Lebanese government's reluctance to allow formal camps has made for haphazard, often unsuitable arrangements. Over 2 million refugees have fled Syria since the conflict began. <br />
[Sam Tarling/International Herald Tribune]](https://photos.smugmug.com/DRC-exhibit/i-rsvCGjL/0/fe81d4f0/L/60_12_07_76_07TARLING_SAM_03.tif-L.jpg)
Tents are reflected in flood water at an informal Syrian refugee camp in Minieh, North Lebanon, on 13 January 2013. The Lebanese government's reluctance to allow formal camps has made for haphazard, often unsuitable arrangements. Over 2 million refugees have fled Syria since the conflict began.
[Sam Tarling/International Herald Tribune]
Family
Nawal Gharab, 28, a mother of 3, prepares tea in a one room house that has no running water or electricity, in Abreen, near Batroun, Lebanon, on October 5, 2013.
The Gharab family fled to Lebanon from their home in Idlib after two of their children were injured when a cluster bomb they were playing with exploded. After registering Oxfam and partner agency JAK, they received food vouchers worth $35 per member of the family.
Halim, 30, from Raqqa, Syria, participates in a sewing craft workshop run by the Danish Refugee Council in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, on November 29, 2017.
The workshops, which bring together a mix of 70% Lebanese and 30% Syrians, aim to teach useful skills to help the participants find further employment but also to help diffuse tensions between the two communities.
Halim, a mother of 6, said: "I've got small children and there's no work." Her husband was badly injured in the war in Syria so she hoped the skills she learned in the program would help her bring additional income to her household.
In Lebanon, more than one million Syrian refugees who are registered with UNHCR live in non-camp settings.
Host communities are increasingly in competition for jobs, wages and affordable housing. Overall perceptions of the crisis are having a negative impact on social cohesion, particularly in areas with a high concentration of refugees.
Fisherman Khodr al Talb, 47, repairs nets at a fishing port in Tripoli, Lebanon, on December 21, 2017.
Khodr, from the nearby town of Bebnine, said in the last 13 years he'd spent working on the sea, he'd seen the stocks of fish severely depleted by the effects of pollution.
Nets used by fisherman here are repaired as part of a program by the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) to provide employment opportunities to both Syrian refugees in Lebanon and economically vulnerable Lebanese people living in the communities that shelter them.
In the same area, DRC also rehabilitated a fish market to help local fishermen better sell their catches.
In Lebanon, more than one million Syrian refugees who are registered with UNHCR live in non-camp settings.
Host communities are increasingly in competition for jobs, wages and affordable housing. Overall perceptions of the crisis are having a negative impact on social cohesion, particularly in areas with a high concentration of refugees.
Rabab Kharota, 20, takes photographs in Tripoli, Lebanon where she is undertaking an apprenticeship at a media agency, on December 21, 2017.
The Danish Refugee Council has helped some 800 economically vulnerable Lebanese citizens and Syrian refugees in Tripoli and the Mount Lebanon area.
Haloume, 42, a refugee from Aleppo province in Syria, works on her sewing machine (which she purchased with money borrowed money from her brother) outside the tent in which she and her family now live in an informal settlement in Saadnayel, near Zahle in Lebanon.
Haloume said: “Everything is difficult, sometimes my girls ask things of me and I can’t provide to them. I sit alone at night upset crying. I think: these are young girls, they don’t deserve this. I don’t like that they ask for things I can’t provide.”
“Sometimes my girls ask for dresses, they are girls, they like these things, but I can’t afford them, I go to second hand market and buy something cheap to make them happy.”
IMC doctors visit an informal Syrian refugee settlement in Halba, in north Lebanon, where IMC is giving health education sessions and providing mobile medical support, on October 30, 2013.
Kamla al Ahmed, 35, from Deir Ezzour, (centre) cooks bread using a traditional tandoor-type oven, a method which is much cheaper than buying bread from nearby shops, in an informal settlement for Syrian refugees in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, on November 29, 2017.
In Lebanon, more than one million Syrian refugees who are registered with UNHCR live in non-camp settings.
Host communities are increasingly in competition for jobs, wages and affordable housing. Overall perceptions of the crisis are having a negative impact on social cohesion, particularly in areas with a high concentration of refugees.
A man works at Danish Refugee Council project to build a public garden in the town of Hrar, in Lebanon's northern Akkar governate, on November 28, 2017.
DRC is paying both Syrian refugees and Lebanese to build the park and is also helping with projects to grow rare herbs on land donated by the local municipality and re-plant pine trees.
In Lebanon, more than one million Syrian refugees who are registered with UNHCR live in non-camp settings.
Host communities are increasingly in competition for jobs, wages and affordable housing. Overall perceptions of the crisis are having a negative impact on social cohesion, particularly in areas with a high concentration of refugees.
Mariam Al Jasm, 25, from Homs in Syria repairs fishing nets at a fishing port in Tripoli, Lebanon, on November 28, 2017.
Mariam, a refugee, fled her home in 2011 after her neighbourhood was targeted by airstrikes. Her husband suffered an injury to his leg so finds it hard to work, leaving her the main breadwinner for their family.
"Our condition is bad," said the mother of one. "There's no work, it's really bad."
Mariam said that despite the hardships she faced, returning to Syria was impossible. "There's no safe place in Syria. Sometimes people say it's safe to return but the war always comes back. We don't trust what they say any more."
Mariam was trained to repair the fishing nets as part of a program by the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) to provide employment opportunities to both Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Lebanese people living in the communities that shelter them.
In the same area, DRC also rehabilitated a fish market to help local fishermen better sell their catches.
In Lebanon, more than one million Syrian refugees who are registered with UNHCR live in non-camp settings.
Host communities are increasingly in competition for jobs, wages and affordable housing. Overall perceptions of the crisis are having a negative impact on social cohesion, particularly in areas with a high concentration of refugees.
Omar Hashem al Ali, 70, from Deir Ezzour in Syria sits by a broken stereo set outside the tent in which his son's family lives, in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, on November 29, 2017.
Omar said he's a big fan of traditional Ataaba music, but he still likes listening to the Arab greats – Um Khalthoum and Samira Toufic in particular – who were performing concerts when he was a young man. Back then he'd listen to them on the radio with girls he was trying to impress.
Omar still lives in Deir Ezzour and said that things have improved since ISIS left the region, but his sons won't return home for fear of being forcibly conscripted into the Syrian Army.
In Lebanon, more than one million Syrian refugees who are registered with UNHCR live in non-camp settings.
Host communities are increasingly in competition for jobs, wages and affordable housing. Overall perceptions of the crisis are having a negative impact on social cohesion, particularly in areas with a high concentration of refugees.
Talal Darwish, 53, from Homs in Syria works at a project funded by the Danish Refugee Council to plant a pine coppice in Akkar, Lebanon, on December 14, 2017.
Some 34 men and women, both economically vulnerable Lebanese citizens and Syrian refugees, are working together to plant some 3,100 trees as part of a scheme to make a nature reserve and bring tourism to the area, which is one of the poorest in Lebanon.
Talal came to Lebanon when war broke out in Syria five years ago has found securing work in the area extremely hard. He said: "Our dignity is the most important thing. If we have that we can survive on bread and water."
The project is part of a livelihoods program run by DRC that brings together Lebanese and Syrian men and women, giving them employment but also providing an opportunity to break down barriers between the two communities and decrease tensions.
