When the bombs fell: Loubana’s story

It’s been three years, but Loubana’s children still have nightmares about the day their Syrian home was bombed.

“I remember when I hid under the stairs when the bombs were falling,” says Nour, who was only 6 at the time.

Loubana and her family had a good life in Syria. Her husband, Hasan, owned a thriving business, and they had a beautiful home full of happy, healthy children.

Then the terror began.

When the bomb hit their house, the family was lucky to crawl out of the rubble alive. Hasan went back into what was left of their home to rescue their napping baby, then they ran for their lives with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

Loubana and Hasan haven’t been back to Syria since they fled to Lebanon. Not even when Loubana’s brother and Hasan’s mother passed. “I would love to return to Syria, but for what? For ISIS or the government to take our children for their army?” says Hasan.

Life in Lebanon has been a struggle for the family. The children haven’t been to school in the three years since they left Syria, and they can barely afford to pay rent and buy food for their large family. The 10 of them live in a tiny two-room apartment that’s covered in mold from a leaky ceiling. Hasan’s health is ailing and they cannot afford the care or medications he needs.

ADRA was able to provide jackets, blankets, and other winter essentials for Loubana’s family. And soon, the children will be able to attend an ADRA learning center.

Loubana and Hasan dream of a better life for their children—and they have dreams, too. Mariam and Nour want to be teachers. Fatima wants to be a pharmacist. Abdullah hopes to be a cardiologist so he can help people when they’re sick—like his dad. And little Sliman just wants to go to school again.

June 18 is World Refugee Sabbath — a day the Seventh-day Adventist church has set aside to advocate for refugees like Loubana and her family.

Click here to learn more, and help children like Sliman attend school in Lebanon.

Published: 3 Jun 2016