Syrian Refugees in Lebanon prepare for the upcoming winter
With more than 1 million Syrian refugees fleeing to Lebanon, refugees live in camps, near the border, built by the UN. Camps are mainly sustained by the UNHCR or Danish Refugee Council and are temporary. The Lebanese government has opposed building more permanent quality shelter that has wooden walls or concrete roofs. Every winter, refugees suffer the snow storms and extreme cold in their tent-like shelters. This story seeks to reflect the hardships refugees living in camps deal with in winter from a national perspective [Lebanon]. This ongoing issue is pressing as winter approaches. It aims to reflect how local NGOs are preparing to help refugees for the upcoming winter of 2017, what aids are they receiving, and how will help provide clothes and supplies that would decrease the death toll due to freezing weather conditions.
For this story, 3 representatives of NGOs will be interviewed from Leb4refugees (+9613315500), Basmeh & Zeitooneh (+76088190), Sawa for Development and Aid (+961 78974462).These NGOs are among the top in organizing and securing donations from people. They are relevant to this story as they are involved in helping refugees through campaigns to secure donations and supplies for the winter (they have good record for providing donations and encouraging people to donate).
The story will film in Zahle, Bekaa valley as this area is considered the most affected by harsh weather conditions. The story opens up with a scene from the camp refugees in the background, ideally shot in a cloudy day. Scenes from different parts of the shelters are taken to show the inadequacy of shelters against the harsh winter. Then, interview scenes with NGOs representatives, ideally while they are preparing for the winter campaign to collect supplies and clothes for refugees (shots of boxes and clothes being prepared, shots of a team working on an online campaign to get more people donating etc).After the interviews, the story scene is back to the main scene at the camp in Bekaa for closure.
Garbage Crisis Management in Lebanon: Total Failure
More than one year ago, the garbage crisis broke out forcing people to put up with bad smell and diseases along with bad politics. This crisis had international media (Guardian, Reuters, New York times etc) cover this issue especially that a lot of tourists visit Lebanon during summer or winter. Several plans have been proposed and the government came up with a solution to open the Cost Brava landfill. However, trash crisis is still ongoing and residents have to put up with garbage piling on the streets whenever disputes between government and Sukleen occur whenever a municipality closes a temporary landfill to avoid pollution. This story is a background report on the garbage crisis in Lebanon that documents the start of the crisis and its underlying reasons.
Interview will be conducted with :
- Paul Abi Rached, head of environmental NGO Lebanon Eco Movement
- Dr. Mazen Haydar, an engineering professor at the Lebanese American University (teaches a solid waste management)
- Representative from Sukleen
These interviewees provide there views on how the crisis started, approaches to solutions (and assessment of underlying reasons for garbage crisis), whereas Sukleen will provide a history of how they were contracted, operated etc.
The story will open with images from the garbage crisis outbreak, the scene moves to Sukleen representative talking about how they stopped collecting trash and the main reasons, another scene from the Beirut river with all the trash piling, then talk with Paul Abi Rached explaining the garbage crisis and the effect it has on people, (scenes of people with masks on, garbage on the streets), then discussing recycling with Dr. Mazen Haydar (scnene from Costa Brava Landfill, scenes from recycling initiatives )
