海角大神

When Fatma Mohammed crossed into Lebanon from Syria a year ago, she brought with her $1,500 in cash 鈥� enough she thought to get her family of seven through a few weeks in Beirut.

She and her family rent a small apartment in Shatila, a Palestinian refugee camp on the outskirts of Beirut where rents are much lower than the city. She earns $300 a month working at a youth center. Her oldest son, who is 18, brings in extra cash when he can get work lifting concrete and cement, but they聽can聽barely cover half of their expenses. Her husband, whose old job at the Ministry of Electricity in Syria afforded the family a comfortable life in a Damascus suburb, has impaired sight and now is unable to work.

Now, they are $500 in debt,聽and聽that sum is growing quickly. It鈥檚 a plight that has become endemic for Syrian refugees in Lebanon, .

Food and shelter are so聽much聽more expensive here than in Syria that even聽formerly聽middle class families, with substantial savings, are running out of funds. Many聽less wealthy Syrians聽crossed with only a few hundred dollars, some with nothing. The average monthly shelter costs about $225, according to the report, and everything from clothing to transport is significantly more costly.

鈥淭he amount of money they brought鈥�really speaks to people鈥檚 perception of how long they thought they would stay,鈥� says Noah Gottschalk, senior humanitarian policy expert with Oxfam. 鈥淚t鈥檚 starting to sink in that there won鈥檛 be a quick solution to the conflict and they鈥檙e not able to go home.鈥�

More than 75 percent of the 260 Syrian refugee households surveyed聽by Oxfam聽carry debt. For refugees like Ms. Mohammed, it is unclear how they will pay that money back.

鈥淚 thought we would stay a few days here, maybe a month,鈥� she says.

Some refugees take remittances from family still inside Syria. Despite the critical situation in the country, the cost of living is so much lower in Syria that those who stayed behind聽can sometimes afford to聽send money out to those who fled.

鈥淎s the conflict continues these sources of income are drying up,鈥� says Mr. Gottschalk.

Only 32 percent of refugees polled have paid employment and in many cases that income only covers their rent, about half of their living costs. Some rely on the kindness of local shopkeepers who allow them to buy on credit, or landlords that allow them to postpone rent payments. But this debt burden is stretching the local communities thin.

Um Mohammed says the small grocery shop she owns with her husband in Shatila is already owed around $3,000. She complains she is unable to buy new stock and she鈥檚 has had to聽cut off聽Syrian refugees聽buying聽on credit.

鈥淲hen they get up to $100 or $150 dollars, that鈥檚 it,鈥� she says, pulling out a book where she keeps records of what鈥檚 owed. 鈥淗ow do I know they will not just leave and not pay me back?鈥�

There are an estimated 1 million Syrians in Lebanon, a tiny Mediterranean country with a population of just 4 million聽that has deep religious divisions exacerbated by the war next door.聽

鈥淭his has Lebanon obviously worried,鈥� says Ninette Kelley, The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees representative in Lebanon. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about the size of Connecticut, so it鈥檚 struggling.鈥�

Refugees in Lebanon face an additional hurdle accessing assistance because Lebanon has not allowed the UN agency to set up an official refugee camp like it has in Jordan, with the camp at Zaatari. Refugees in Lebanon are dispersed throughout the country, in cities and towns, in informal settlements in rural areas, and in improbable places like an abandoned shopping mall.聽

More than 70 percent of Syrian refugees in Lebanon are entirely dependent on international assistance, according to Ms. Kelley.聽

Among them, is Nouma Ghazi Raji, who shares a one-room apartment in Shatila with her six children. 聽A local organization called Najda Now, or Help Now in English, pays her rent and she scrapes聽by with聽the $220 in聽monthly assistance she receives from the UN.

鈥淓very month I owe about $150 and I have no way to pay it back,鈥� says Ms. Raji, whose husband left the family seven months ago.

If she can reach her family in Syria, she says, she will consider returning to her native Daraa, despite the ongoing violence.

鈥淭here is already a lack of funding. We have a greater need 鈥� and the amount of funding is getting less and less,鈥� says Ali Shiekh Haidar, a coordinator at Najda Now. 鈥淪adly, I don鈥檛 think the donors will stay interested if this situation continues for two more years.鈥�

There has been a surge of new refugees crossing into Lebanon at the border town of Arsal in the last week. More than 2,200 families have entered from that crossing point since fighting intensified in the nearby Qalamoun region of central Syria. These newest refugees are at particular risk聽because聽many of them lack even winter clothes,聽and聽thousands lack proper winter shelter.聽

鈥淚t鈥檚 evident they were taken by surprise because they came over with nothing,鈥� Kelley says.