Displacement and Survival in Lebanon: Three Sisters and a Continuous Struggle
On 4 March 2026, families in Masaken Shaebieh in southern Tyre were ordered to leave their homes following a displacement order. Among them were three sisters whose lives were already shaped by chronic illness, economic precarity, and limited access to services. What followed was not a single movement, but a chain of forced decisions shaped by survival rather than choice.
Before displacement, Dana was managing a small shop in Al-Bas Palestinian camp, selling clothes and vegetables. As displaced families from surrounding areas began arriving, the shop briefly appeared to offer opportunity amid crises. Instead, it quickly turned into an overcrowded space absorbing relatives and displaced community members, losing its function as a source of income and becoming an informal shelter.
Conditions were difficult from the beginning. The space lacked privacy and adequate facilities, and had never been designed to accommodate such a large number of displaced people. Yet after repeated displacement and limited shelter options, it became the family’s only available refuge, eventually hosting three families totaling nine individuals.
The situation was further complicated by the health condition of Lamia, Dana’s sister. At 59, Lamia lives with multiple chronic illnesses, including kidney failure requiring dialysis every other day and severe cardiac complications. Her mobility is severely limited, and she depends on assistance for basic movement.
Before displacement, she was able to manage her condition within her home environment, while receiving dialysis at Jabal Amel Hospital in Tyre. Once displacement began, that continuity of care was disrupted as the area became increasingly inaccessible and classified as a high-risk zone. Missing dialysis sessions was not an option.
The family therefore relocated to Saida and is now staying in a collective shelter there, allowing Lamia to continue her treatment at Labib Hospital. They had already moved to Saida during a previous escalation, aware of how quickly access to essential care can collapse in emergencies.
Her situation also reflects a wider gap: most collective shelters are not adapted to people with disabilities or reduced mobility, making access to care, movement, and basic daily routines significantly more difficult for those with chronic conditions.
The relocation itself underscored this fragility. The family traveled using a combination of private transport and taxis, arriving in Saida at night and being dropped near the municipality area without direct access to shelter or structured support, having to navigate fatigue, cold, and medical vulnerability.
Another sister, Rima, who had been earning a modest income selling cosmetics, lost her stock during displacement. Alongside her brother, both of whom lived with chronic illnesses, she lost the only stable income source the household had. Lamia’s son, 28, also lost his employment as the crisis intensified, further narrowing the families already limited financial options.
In Saida, the family was accommodated in a collective shelter located within a university building. However, the infrastructure was not adapted to their needs. The absence of elevators made upper floors inaccessible for Lamia due to her condition, and moving between floors was not feasible.
The family, therefore, stayed together in an open shared space on the ground floor. This ensured Lamia could remain with them and receive continuous care, while avoiding the strain of a multi-floor arrangement.
This decision was informed by previous experience in the same shelter during an earlier escalation, when Lamia had been placed on the upper floor and required physical assistance from a first aid worker to move between levels. That experience directly shaped the family’s refusal to accept a similar arrangement again.
Action Against Hunger provided humanitarian support to the collective shelter through improvements to water and sanitation conditions. This included the installation of internal and external showers, rehabilitation of water heaters, provision of water storage tanks, and maintenance of water systems to ensure continuity of access. In parallel, non-food items such as mattresses, mats, pillows, and thermal blankets were distributed to improve basic living conditions in shared spaces.
Following the announcement of a ceasefire, the family attempted to return home on multiple occasions. However, each attempt lasted only a day before they returned to Saida due to ongoing strikes and displacement orders around their residence and continued lack of reliable access to essential services. In parallel, access to Jabal Amel Hospital in Tyre remained unstable and at times unsafe for Lamia’s dialysis sessions, forcing the family to maintain Saida as their primary point of shelter and care.
As a result, the family has remained in the collective shelter for around three months. Lamia continues to require dialysis every other day, a treatment schedule that depends on uninterrupted access to healthcare services, which remains inconsistent under current conditions.
This case illustrates how displacement in Lebanon often unfolds as a layered process rather than a single event. For families managing chronic illness and economic fragility, movement is not simply geographic. It is a constant recalibration between survival needs, collapsing infrastructure, and the unstable availability of care.
