Qlik organized a CSR trip to Lebanon to
visit the Syrian settlements during August 12- 17th 2018 in association with our CSR partner Medair. I
was a part of this trip along with 7 other Qlikkies from different parts of the
world. This was an overwhelming experience to say the least and we spent the
week visiting settlements, clinics, health assistance offered by Medair and
also interacted with the refugees. Medair also demonstrated how they are using
Qlik’s technology and software to serve the refugees needs.
Lebanon is one of the countries hosting many Syrians, in
fact 1 out of every 4 in Lebanon is a refugee, the country is hosting more than
one million refugees
Qlik's CSR partner, Medair provides families with
new-arrival shelter kits, repair kits for existing shelters, and specialized
shelter interventions for the elderly and disabled. They also work to improve
the living conditions and safety of the settlements through site improvements
and fire prevention
There are many inspiring stories of the work done by Medair
for refugees and I would like to share one of them…….
We met a lady who's is a mother of 6 and fell and from a
ladder 4 months ago, due to this she can’t move anything from the waist down. MedAir’s Case Management Team got on to this case and built
a shelter for her in a new area for her to come to as soon as she got out of
the hospital,
They built support rails so she could move around and out of
the house as well as a toilet that would suit her situation.In the meantime, they also arranged for another agency to
provide her with a bed, wheelchair, walker and a physio.Her kids are between the ages of 5-16, and help around the
house with cooking and the two older ones go to the fields to harvest fruits
for an hourly salary.
Despite her circumstance, she was very positive throughout
the interaction…
I would like to quote what Steffan, the Country Manager of MedAir
Lebanon has to say – “Because the crisis has been here for a long period of
time, it is not present in the minds of media and donors. It is a crisis that
people feel should have evolved by now, and this has led to a decrease in
funding. But the needs are still high. These people could not progress due to
their situation and the Lebanese economic situation which is deteriorating, and
this makes them more vulnerable.”
