Lebanon’s Abandoned Children (7929)

Produced by RTS

Synopsis: Nearly One month after the Beirut Port explosion which caused at least 190 deaths, the situation remains critical in Lebanon. Today the main emergency is reconstruction and helping abandoned children.  In Lebanon, some are paying the price of poverty, which affects nearly 50% of the population. Left by their parents, some have no other alternative except the streets, in a country where adoption remains taboo, even illegal.

A report by Mathilde Delvigne, Julia Terradot, Shaza Madad and Clement Gargoullaud.

Location: Beirut, Lebanon

00:00:26,189 --> 00:00:28,554

OUDIA: If we work, can we sleep here?

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MOHAMMAD:You can tell we're sleeping here, you know.

00:00:33,590 --> 00:00:35,492

OUDIA: Are you embarrassed?

00:00:38,486 --> 00:00:42,767

OUDIA:If you don't wake up, I'll throw rocks at you.

00:00:44,353

MOHAMMAD: We wake up and we start to work right away. We go fetch something to eat and then we get back to work. We have friends in the square. We're going to get some metal and we sell it. Sleeping here is better than sleeping on the street.

00:01:13,636

REPORTER: Mohammed, 16, Oudia, 11, are already having grown-up problems. They learned how to fend for themselves and help each other on the street, where they have been hanging out for the past six months.

00:01:30,988 --> 00:01:33,795

OUDIA: Come on, follow me.

00:01:36,960
REPORTER:In a disused movie theatre since the civil war, Mohammed and Oudia are looking for metal to sell. It's their daily life since they've run away from their families who could no longer provide for their needs.

00:01:52,035

OUDIA: Mohammed is like my brother; he takes care of me. I need him. I know he'll defend me if people try to kidnap me. God bless him. I don't want to go to school or in an orphanage. God will help me.

00:02:40,347 --> 00:02:45,244

REPORTER: Since the explosion, 80,000 children were left homeless, more than 1,000 were injured, according to UNICEF. In Beirut, it's impossible to know how many of them are on the street, especially since the neighbourhoods near the harbour, where they used to be, were devastated by the explosion. The structures that housed them are in ruins, like the only hospital in the country that took care of them.

00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:10,754

DR ROBERT SACY:Hello, how are you?

00:03:13,488

REPORTER: For the past five years, this hospital receives abandoned children. This is a growing phenomenon in Lebanon since the economic crisis started into the country, plunging 50% of the population below the poverty line. Building a shelter for these neglected children, was paediatrician R. Sacy's project.

00:03:47,668 --> 00:05:05,691

DR ROBERT SACY: There were eight incubators in this room. At the time of the accident, we only had two babies. The wall fell and got stuck by an incubator. Without the incubator, the whole thing would've fallen apart. All babies came out of it intact. I don't think the babies were too badly hurt, I mean psychologically, speaking. It took us a year to build this service and five years for the whole unit to run smooth and work efficiently. We receive 1,000 children a year. After five years, it all went away in a minute. There are no words to describe a 5-year job vanishing in a minute.I couldn't go home that day... because the roads were blocked. The nurses managed. We made the right contacts so that the army and the Red Cross took the babies away in outlying hospitals. Since patients come for far away, mother and child usually sleep in the same bed. After the explosion, they ran away with their children and we took care of the babies without parents.  There were 10 babies at the time of the accident.

00:05:08,215

REPORTER: In Lebanon, R. Sacy's paediatric service quickly made a name for himself...to respond to the emergency of a taboo drama. Ever since he started, 5 years ago, Robert has remembered each of the children that he welcomed in his clinic.

00:05:28,655 --> 00:06:14,529

DR ROBERT SACY: It was Matthew because he was born... on St. Matthew's Day. The priest who took him in called him that. It was found in the trash. Five days ago, we gave up...a one-year-old girl.She probably didn't come from a poor background, because she was well-dressed. I think the parents didn't have enough money to feed her anymore. It's gonna happen more and more. the minimum wage was $600. With the devaluation of the pound, it came to a hundred bucks. We're not getting very far with this. It's become a tradition to send kids to my house at 3:00 in the morning. I'm sometimes woken up by police officers from all over Lebanon.

00:06:22,833 --> 00:06:42,466

REPORTER: Robert and his team carry out the first emergency. Once recovered, most of the children are then entrusted to charities, like Father Majid's, who is nothing but predestined to this mission.

00:06:46,532 --> 00:07:35,548

FATHER MAJID: Go ahead, take it easy.

One day, a judge called me for to tell me that a child was in prison and no one could get it back. None of the NGOs wanted to take it... because it's a big investment. One year at the orphanage costs 20,000 Swiss francs. I couldn't sleep knowing there was a kid in jail. I took him home and then I started the association.

I'll say goodbye, I kiss you all.

00:07:36,713 --> 00:07:38,978

CHILDREN: No, stay with us!

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REPORTER: Today, Father Majid welcomes up to 200 children a year.

00:07:50,361 --> 00:08:46,522

FATHER MAJID: Hold your spoon like this… Most of the kids here came when they were babies. Children see that I'm not shutting anyone out.I don't care about their religion, or their skin color. Whether you were raised Shia, Sunni, orthodox or not, you were raised in separation In this country, no one was raised to be a brother. We have to learn that the most important one is humanity. My confession is Lebanon, my family is Lebanon. These children show us that the world has some good and that nothing is difficult. They give us  hope and inspiration.

00:08:53,331 --> 00:09:25,608

REPORTER: Children will remain in the orphanage as long as Lebanese justice will not have decided their fate. It can remain unclear for many, many years. Adoption procedures are delicate or even prohibited by a Koranic text for Muslims. However, they represent half the population. Obstacles that pave the way to illegal adoption methods.

Amina resigned herself to it.  after using the official channels without success.

00:09:28,108 --> 00:09:57,458

AMINA: It is thanks to an association and a doctor that I may have had an act from birth where it says that she's my biological daughter. No one will be able to find out that I'm not his mother. In our society, being an adopted child is frowned upon. When you're adopted, you're rejected.

00:10:03,835 --> 00:10:30,743

REPORTER:Rita came into her life 12 years ago.

-Who's his mother's lover?

-I am!

-Who's the love of my life?

I want all families who want to adopt can do that. A child arriving in a family

brings joy, it changes life instead of being lost in a place with no future.

00:10:38,004 ---> 00:11:17,176

REPORTER: A future that has become even more obscured since the port explosion. The urgency is to come to the aid to the most modest families. The tours also allow to stay in touch with the children ...that resurface on the streets. Being on the ground to support, waiting for it to get better. R. Sacy wanted to show us some of  these first positive signs. For the past few days,he was able to transfer his service to another downtown hospital.

00:11:17,537 --> 00:12:01,586

DR ROBERT SACY: It's only the beginning. We now have 8 incubators, hopefully a little more will come. It's not the 34 incubators that we had before, but it's better than nothing. That’s great, everyone's working. People were a little shocked the first week, and by the second week, it was over. These children are going to be the adults of tomorrow. If we let them die, if we leave them disabled, we’re diminishing their chances to live a decent life.

00:12:04,586 --> 00:12:14,815

REPORTER: The day after we were filmed, Robert got another call, concerning a 3-year-old child abandoned on a church doorstep.