Refugees fleeing the Civil War in neighbouring Syria have settled temporarily in Beqaa Valley, Lebanon, living and working under the supervision of a local administrator from whom they rent their land, earn their wages, and to whom they are indebted. Their steel shacks and tarpaulin tents provide scant relief from the ravages of seasonal floods and the whims of a forbidding natural environment. Abbas Fahdel renders this world of fences, homesteads, sewers, and makeshift playgrounds on a canvas as epic as that of the American West. That is, as a struggle for the basics of a dignified and autonomous communal life.

Action Against Hunger has been active in Lebanon since 2006, helping local people to access food and clean water and build new livelihoods amidst the massive economic crisis. An important part of our work is also the provision of safe hygiene infrastructure and the containment of the cholera epidemic. Since the massive explosion in the port of the capital Beirut, Lebanon's economic crisis, which has been ongoing for years, continues to gather pace, while the public health system has partially collapsed, also due to the Corona crisis. The country hosts over two million refugees from neighbouring crisis regions, such as Syria. The humanitarian situation in the tent camps near the borders is particularly desolate.