Forced to flee
She fled in the night: A mother’s story from Lebanon
For the second time in three years, Warda and her family have been displaced by war. From a collective shelter in Lebanon, this is her story.
For Warda, a mother of three in Lebanon, war has upended care, stability and safety for her family. Now living in a collective shelter, she works tirelessly to rebuild for her family—every day.
Forced to flee in the night
More than 1 million people, including over 300,000 children, have been forced to flee their homes in Lebanon in the wake of the escalation of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel in March.
Warda, her three sons and husband are among them.
Warda fled her village in southern Lebanon in the early hours of the morning with her husband and three young sons, Houssam and Wissam, and Mohammad, as airstrikes and shelling intensified. They left with almost nothing, carrying only their children’s clothes.
Warda and her seven-month-old son, Mohammad, together in the collective shelter where they have found temporary safety.
Photo: Dalia Khamissy for the IRC
“The shelling had already started around 2:00 AM while the children were asleep,” recounts Warda. “There were artillery and air raids. It was extremely terrifying."
“My children were sleeping—they were in one world and woke up in a completely different one.”
Warda and her family eventually found temporary refuge in a collective shelter in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. She does not know whether she will ever see her home again.
This was the second time her family had been displaced in three years. In 2024, Warda’s home was bombed and destroyed in a previous escalation between Israel and Hezbollah.
A mother’s daily challenges on the move
Displacement has reshaped every part of Warda’s daily life. Her youngest son, Mohammad, is seven months old and was born with health complications, including an enlarged liver and damaged lungs. He spent the first two weeks of his life in an incubator.
Mohammad’s condition requires ongoing care that the family can no longer afford. Even basic tasks, like bathing him safely, have become difficult in the shelter environment. Warda’s husband, Ali, provided for his family as a farmer. Now displaced, he is out of work and economic opportunities are scarce, as Lebanon faces one of the worst financial collapses in modern history.
Warda’s older sons are also showing signs of trauma. They are afraid of loud noises, struggle to sleep alone, and have difficulty concentrating. Without stability, school, or routine, Warda says it is harder to guide and support them the way she once could.
Warda herself is carrying the weight of displacement and the pressure of providing for her children as best she can.
“Just the exhaustion, the psychological exhaustion, the young children, the responsibility, and the war.”
Warda’s eight-year-old son, Houssam, regularly participates in the IRC’s safe space program at a collective shelter in Lebanon. He told his mom, “Mama, I wish we could go back home and go to school and learn."
Photo: Dalia Khamissy for the IRC
What Warda and her children need
Displaced families across Lebanon share Warda’s needs: access to healthcare, financial support, safe shelter, and mental health services.
Her baby, Mohammad, needs continued medical care. Her older sons, Houssam, Wissam, need psychosocial support to cope with trauma. The family needs basic household items, stability, and the ability to meet everyday needs with dignity.
“Everything has changed—we were living in safety, and now life is no longer safe. There was stability, a life, and work. My husband used to work and provide for his children, and now he has nothing to do—everything changed.”
Photo: Dalia Khamissy for the IRC
Warda’s story reflects the reality for more than 1 million people who are displaced in Lebanon. Families have been displaced, some multiple times, often fleeing with little more than they can carry.
Only about 15% of Lebanon’s displaced population have been able to find refuge in the country’s 640 collective shelters. The vast majority are surviving the best they can with little to no resources. Throughout the streets of Beirut, families are sleeping in cars or under the night’s sky.
“I wish the war would end so we can live in safety again, go back to our village, and reunite with our family and friends,” says Warda. “And to live in safety, above all.”
With limited capacity at collective shelters, displaced families are forced to pitch tents around Beirut, Lebanon.
Photo: Ahmad Al Jarery for the IRC
How the IRC is supporting families across Lebanon
The IRC has been working in Lebanon since 2012 and reached more than 180,000 people across the country in 2025 with health, education, protection and livelihood services.
Mental health support for children
The IRC is providing psychosocial support and safe spaces for children in collective shelters. Through structured activities like drawing, games, and group play, the IRC helps children express themselves, reduce stress, and regain a sense of normalcy.
Warda says these activities have helped her sons: they draw, play, and momentarily forget the pressures around them.
Warda is determined to hold on to the hope that the conflict will end permanently. “My children give me the strength to keep going and to hope that tomorrow is better, and that we'll live in safety and everything will be fine,” she says.
Displaced children play together at an IRC psychosocial support session, hosted at a collective shelter in Lebanon.
Photo: Dalia Khamissy for the IRC
Emergency aid for displaced families
Across Lebanon, the IRC is scaling up emergency response efforts to support displaced families with cash assistance, healthcare, protection services, and essential relief items such as bedding and hygiene kits.
These services are designed to help families meet urgent needs while also supporting longer-term recovery and resilience.
The IRC is helping displaced families meet urgent basic needs—including essential household and bedding items—while ensuring access to healthcare, mental health support, and protection services, particularly for vulnerable groups including women and children.
Photo: Ahmad Al Jarery for the IRC
How to help mothers like Warda
Your support can help mothers in Lebanon who are working to care for their children under extremely difficult conditions.
Donations help provide:
- Healthcare and medical support
- Mental health and psychosocial services
- Essential household and hygiene items
Your support helps families not only survive, but begin to rebuild stability and hope.
Donate now
Warda continues to care for her children with strength and determination, despite ongoing uncertainty.
Your donation today can help a mother in Lebanon provide safety, care, and support for her children when it matters most.
Learn more about what’s happening in Lebanon
Lebanon is facing a severe humanitarian crisis following a major escalation in regional hostilities. In March 2026, violence intensified, displacing over 1 million people across the country in a matter of weeks. Many families have fled multiple times, exhausting their savings and coping mechanisms.
The latest violence exacerbates an existing crisis in Lebanon, which landed the country on the IRC’s Emergency Watchlist of countries most likely to experience a worsening humanitarian crisis in 2026.
Learn more about the crisis in Lebanon and how the IRC is responding.
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