Sudanese family turns to Beirut church amid Israel-Hezbollah conflict

Moatinoon
A church in Beirut has been transformed into a temporary migrant shelter amid the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. A Sudanese woman found herself caught in the middle of the war in Lebanon and decided to resort to a church in Beirut.

Malika Juma, a Sudanese immigrant in Lebanon, said it was good that the church offered to help. We were going to stay on the streets, where were we going to go? We shelter under the bridge. It wasnt safe. If we go home, its not safe. They are bombing everywhere ".

Michael Petro, Director of the Jesuit Services Project for Immigrant Programs, said, "This is a space where migrants feel welcome, where people come every Sunday, its their community, and so if something goes wrong, they come here. The first family comes, the next day there are 50 people and now we run a migrant shelter. "

After fleeing the Darfur region years before the outbreak of the war in Darfur and taking refuge in Lebanon, Sudanese families once found themselves in a new and violent war between Israel and Hezbollah. They once found themselves displaced in search of security.

The church, which has become a haven for migrant workers in Lebanon, has opened its doors to provide a safe haven for those who cannot find shelter elsewhere.

Lebanese government statistics showed on Tuesday that nearly 1,900 people were killed and more than 9,000 wounded in Lebanon in nearly a year of cross-border fighting, the most in the past two weeks.