Mariam, 23 years old

I am originally from Idlib but I used to live in the countryside of Aleppo with my husband. He lost his job because of the bad circumstances that came upon our country and us. Our fear for the children and the harshness of the situation led us to leave. My husband suggested that we go to Lebanon thinking it would be better for us here. We were surprised by the reality of things. The situation might be better in some ways of course: there are no planes bombing us and scaring our children. However in general the situation is rather bad. I had brought some gold bracelets with me from Syria. I was wearing them when we left. We had to sell them later on to buy this tent that we live in. That was all I had brought from Syria. My children do not go to school. My husband barely gets to work due to the increasing number of Syrians looking for jobs. All we own is this tent.

I miss my parents. They stayed in Syria because they do not have any identity papers. All our houses were destroyed. My parents have to move around to surrounding villages in Syria. I have not seen them in 2 years, if not longer.

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