Nada Baghdadi, 27, lives near the port of Beirut and has intellectual disabilities. On August 4, she was at her home when the district was hit by two explosions.

Emergency equipment

Many of Beirut’s population were seriously injured when the explosions ripped through the city’s port, including Nada who is now recovering from a fracture in her leg.

Humanity & Inclusion’s teams have been reaching out to residents of two neighborhoods—Quarantine and Basta—to identify victims that need help recovering from their injuries and the trauma.

One of the people our team met with was Nada. She shared her experience and we provided her with emergency equipment and psychological support to aid in her recovery.

Since she finds it extremely difficult to move around with her broken leg, Humanity & Inclusion also provided her with a set of crutches so she can move around more independently.

Physical therapy and cash assistance

Humanity & Inclusion has been providing Nada with physical rehabilitation care to help her get back on her feet as soon as possible. She will also receive cash assistance to pay for essentials like food and medication.

"I'm so grateful for Humanity & Inclusion’s support,” she says. “You were the first to come and see me.”  

Humanity & Inclusion in Lebanon

Our teams have worked in Lebanon since 1992. There, we provide assistance to the most vulnerable individuals and people with disabilities and help ensure they are included in community life. We also implement demining projects in the north of the country where people’s lives are still at risk from explosive devices leftover from the 15-year civil war, which ended in 1990.

How can you help?

Generous donors all over the world help Humanity & Inclusion (the new name of handicap international) respond to emergencies, and to deliver long-term care and aid where it's needed. Here are a few easy ways to become a donor today.

As a "First Responder," or monthly donor, your sustaining gifts can bring swift care and aid to people injured in natural disasters or other emergencies, and give teams the critical funds to provide long-term care and to support critical development projects. Your donation is charged to your credit or debit card each month. We will send you a receipt for your first gift, as well as a tax letter every January.

Zeina is coordinating one of Humanity & Inclusion’s teams of 25 emergency responders in Beirut. The situation is worse than she imagined possible. Here’s what she shared with us:  

To understand my experience over the past few days, you need to know a little bit about me. I was born in Lebanon and I live in Beirut—it’s my home. I joined Humanity & Inclusion 11 years ago. My colleagues are like family.

I was at home when the explosion happened. My house is a long, long way from the port but just before the noise of the blast, I felt the strangest wind—like a great big wave pushing against my body.

The next day, I saw the destruction in the city with my own eyes. I had seen the photos and videos on the TV but a part of me thought perhaps there was some exaggeration. If anything, the reality is much worse. What I saw on the news is just a glimpse of the scale of the disaster. It’s difficult to describe and I still find it hard to believe that something like this can happen in Lebanon.

The first place I visited was the Humanity & Inclusion office and I remember my first thought when I walked in—I was just so thankful that the explosion happened after working hours, thankful for Humanity & Inclusion and for Beirut. There was glass everywhere. Desks thrown around. Complete chaos. I believe there would have been many casualties if we had been there. 

Since that day, the Humanity & Inclusion team has been doing everything in our power to help. We have been in the hospitals and in the areas that have been destroyed beyond recognition in order to find out what people need.

Each day, I meet people with difficult stories. One gentleman, a taxi driver, lost his home and his car in the blast. He has five children and, due to the economic crisis, was the only person earning an income before the explosion. He has been forced to send his children to live with four different families who can help support them. He told me he would rather be dead than deal with what his future holds. This is something my team has heard repeatedly. It’s harrowing, but it helps you to understand why the psychological first aid we are providing is so essential.

We are also coming face to face with the urgent need for rehabilitation. People were discharged from hospital very quickly, many couldn’t return to their homes because the buildings are dangerously unstable. We need to find these people and provide physical therapy to kick-start their recovery.

This is not the first time that Lebanon or Beirut has dealt with a disaster. We know how to pick ourselves up and rebuild. But this time, the explosion is only part of the picture. The economic situation is dire, the politics are complicated, and we are desperately struggling to control the spread of COVID-19. We’re on our knees and I honestly don’t know how we’ll stand up again.

On behalf of my team—thank you for supporting us!

Explosions rocked Beirut, Lebanon's capital, on August 4. The blasts injured more than 5,000 people, and claimed at least 220 lives. Damages to buildings and infrastructure left 300,000 people homeless.

Humanity & Inclusion teams have worked in Lebanon since 1992, most recently in aid of Syrian refugees, especially those with disabilities, serious, conflict-related injuries, chronic illnesses, and the effects of aging.

Our 100-person team in Lebanon, including physical therapists, psycho-social, and livelihood experts, are leading this critical response. Post-surgical physical therapy, in particular, will be a vital component of our actions.

Make an urgently-needed donation today.

Injuries caused by the huge blasts in Beirut that occurred on Tuesday include burns, fractures, and amputations, in addition to thousands of minor and major wounds caused by shattered glass. 500 people are likely to need physical rehabilitation in order to recover.

Hospitals in the city are damaged and under-resourced. To contribute to the collective humanitarian effort, Humanity & Inclusion will be providing wheelchairs, walkers, and other mobility aids to victims with serious immediate needs who may be discharged from the hospital early. We will also distribute wound treatment kits containing alcohol, plasters, and bandages to allow those with minor injuries to treat themselves at home and avoid over-burdening hospitals.

Humanity & Inclusion currently has a team of 98 staff in Lebanon who are all being deployed to respond to the crisis. Additional emergency response experts will arrive in the country in the coming days.

Humanity & Inclusion has worked in Lebanon since 1992. Caroline Duconseille, Humanity & Inclusion's Head of Mission, was on a roof terrace of Humanity & Inclusion’s offices in Beirut's Achrafieh quarter (just over one mile from the explosion site) at the moment of the explosion. In the video below, she explains the dire situation in Beirut and what Humanity & Inclusion's teams are doing to help the victims.

Photo caption: A view from inside a building shows the aftermath of the blast at the port of Lebanon's capital Beirut on August 5, 2020. © Anwar AMRO / AFP

Scenes of devastation following a huge explosion in Beirut leave no doubt as to the immediate and urgent needs of the more than 4,000 people injured. Humanity & Inclusion's 98-person team in Lebanon, alongside a network of partners, are mobilized to deliver expertise and resources to those in need.

Emergency evaluations conducted by Humanity & Inclusion in Beirut’s hospitals reveal that common injuries include complex fractures and amputations to extremities, such as fingers and toes. Many have already undergone surgery and will quickly need physical therapy and mobility aids, such as wheelchairs or crutches, to begin their recovery.

Humanity & Inclusion has worked in Lebanon since 1992. Caroline Duconseille, Humanity & Inclusion's Head of Mission, was on a roof terrace of Humanity & Inclusion’s offices in Beirut's Achrafieh quarter (just over one mile from the explosion site) at the moment of the explosion. “I felt the building tremble slightly," she recalls. "Then we heard the first explosion with white smoke, shortly followed by an enormous one and lots of orange smoke. The chairs began to fly everywhere and all the glass in the building opposite shattered. It was terrifying!”

The blast heavily damaged the offices, as well as the homes of several members of the team. Fortunately, nobody was seriously injured. “Once I had checked that all of my team was safe, we began to visit hospitals and partners to understand what the needs of the injured are. Humanity & Inclusion has an important role to play in the coming days to reduce the impact of this disaster."

When Abdullah was nine-months-old in November 2014, he was injured in a bombing raid in Syria that killed his father and destroyed his home. His head trauma caused hemiplegia, which affected his concentration and memory. He had problems talking, moving around, and controlling the movement in his left hand. He only spoke in rapid, garbled sentences.

Support from Humanity & Inclusion

In August 2018, at four-years-old, his mother took him to the HI-supported Mousawat Rehabilitation Center for the first time. There, Humanity & Inclusion’s rehabilitation team provided him with physical therapy, occupational therapy, psychotherapy, and speech therapy.

After several months of rehabilitation care, Abdullah is improving in leaps and bounds. He can walk on his own and use his left hand, which was neglected before his rehabilitation. He can also coordinate the movement in both hands. 

Singing with pride!

Following his speech therapy sessions, Abdullah now uses words correctly and expresses himself in complete sentences. “The first time I saw Abdullah, his self-esteem, and self-confidence was very low,” says a psychologist with Humanity & Inclusion. “He has accepted his disability and feels more at ease with himself.” At a recreation session for children and parents, Abdullah surprised everyone when he grabbed the microphone and sang happily and confidently in front of a whole room of people.

Thriving in school

Abdullah returned to school last September. "Abdullah's life is changing,” his mother says. “His teachers really like him, and he has made new friends.”

Assisting his mother

To help with her son’s rehabilitation, Abdullah's mother now attends consultations and has been given training. She has also joined a self-help group organized by Humanity & Inclusion. "The support group helped me feel less alone and gave me hope. My life is getting better.”

Changing attitudes toward people with disabilities

She has also joined a committee set up by parents to advance the rights of people with disabilities. "The neighborhood where we live has problems accepting people with disabilities, which is the main reason why they and their caregivers feel so much frustration. We’re strong enough now to change these negative attitudes," she adds.

Since 2011, Humanity & Inclusion’s team has cleared 7.5 million square feet of land in Lebanon, the equivalent of 130 soccer fields. In the last two years alone—2017 & 2018—our mine clearance experts found and destroyed 4,500 explosive devices.

Ending a persistent threat

Humanity & Inclusion’s four demining teams are currently clearing fields in the district of Bsharri, which was contaminated by anti-personnel mines in the 1980s. The mined areas are very close to several villages. Accidents just after the civil war, in the 1990s, made a lasting impression on the local population. Since then, Humanity & Inclusion has taught locals how to spot, avoid and report the explosive remnants of war they may come across, and have set up warning signs.  

Adapting to the terrain

Depending on the season, Humanity & Inclusion’s mine clearance experts operate in different types of terrain. In the summer months, they work at high altitude, and in winter, when it starts to snow, they return to the lower ground. Sometimes the land is hard to get to and the mine clearance experts have to build a makeshift staircase with sandbags to access certain areas. Heavy rain makes the slopes slippery and sometimes prevents teams from working.

Hard-to-find and different types of mines

The mines in Bsharri are old and buried in thick undergrowth. Mine clearance experts use metal detectors to locate them. When they find one, rather than move it, the team leader detonates it on the spot. Other mines are plastic, rendering them undetectable. To find them, mine clearance experts probe large swathes of land.

Restoring land

Humanity & Inclusion stays in close contact with the people who live close to the minefields. It is essential to update them on operations, particularly if they own land cleared of mines. It is also vital to warn local shepherds, who are among the most frequent casualties.

After the civil war, many villagers had to sell their mined land and leave the region. Some abandoned their land all together. Since the start of the clearance operations, 30,000 villagers have returned. Today, 76% of owners have rebuilt their homes or started growing olives, pears, and grapes again.

Thanks to support from Humanity & Inclusion donors and the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, communities in Lebanon can return to their homes and live in safety. 

Humanity & Inclusion in Lebanon

Humanity & Inclusion began working in Lebanon in 1992, supporting local associations with rehabilitation and psychosocial support projects. Since 2011, our mine action teams have been clearing landmines and other explosive remnants of war left from previous conflicts. In the summer of 2012, we began supplying relief to Syrian refugees in Lebanon with a special emphasis on helping those with disabilities and serious injuries. Learn more about our work in Lebanon.

Read the Associated Press story that features Humanity & Inclusion's deminers who are working to clear wartime mines from the cedar forests in Lebanon.

"Hi from the field," comes direct to you from our field staff. Learn why our mine action team is planting trees after clearing weapons in Colombia. Step inside a rehabilitation center in Bolivia, where our donors ensure that children with disabilities can thrive.

Watch and share! 

Colombia

Meet Erika Romero, Humanity & Inclusion's demining area manager in Colombia and learn why our mine action team is planting trees in places where they've cleared weapons.

Lebanon

Meet Rana, a physical therapist with our Lebanon team. With a goal to get more Syrian refugee children into school, and of course to improve their quality of life, she assesses children at a rehabilitation center.

Niger

Take a step inside an inclusive classroom for children with visual disabilities in Niger and watch as these incredible children learn how to read and write in Braille.

Laos

When villagers in Laos found unexploded ordnance (UXO) left over from war, they immediately reached out to Humanity & Inclusion's mine action team to help remove them. Watch our deminers in action.

Chad

While visiting Humanity & Inclusion in Chad, Gilles Lordet from HQ met up with our demining team. There, he followed their every step and got to see the SAG200 (like a HUGE combine tractor) in action!

Bolivia

Valérie Beauchemin, HI's country director for the Andean States, visits a rehabilitation center where our team conducts physical therapy sessions for children ages 0-3 in Caracollo, Bolivia. Join the tour and meet sweet kiddos, Ruban and Nicolas!