Irish Woman Learns First Hand In Lebanon About The Fears of Refugees of Being Forcibly Returned to Syria

Eileen Boyle went to Lebanon at her own expense recently as part of a delegation investigating the plight of Syrian refugees and in this interview with filmmaker Anne Daly, co-producer of the film SYRIA - THE IMPOSSIBLE REVOLUTION, she spoke of her experiences and what she found. Today many refugees now live in great fear of being forcibly returned to Syria which could mean arrest, torture and even death. One of the most disturbing findings of her trip was also the appalling poverty experienced by so many of the refugees. 

Eileen also found that in the midst of the poverty some of the refugees are showing remarkable resilience. A Syrian neurosurgeon who could have left permanently for the US Dr Fadi al-Halabi has instead created nine schools for refugees children, providing education for 3,500 children, through MAPS the grass roots network he founded. Among the most impressive successes of the children in his schools was n a competition to create robots in the US, with the kids even meeting President Barack Obama in Washington DC when they went to collect their prizes. 

The delegation as part of which Eileen went to Lebanon was organised by the Syrian American Council in partnership with the Access Centre for Human Rights. 

Lebanon is a small country on Syria’s border and has taken in approximately 1.5 million Syrian refugees since the peaceful uprising in 2011 against the Assad regime, but with demands rising for their forcible return they face an uncertain future.

ESPERANZA AUDIO is part of Esperanza Productions, the award winning independent productions company, co-founded by Ronan L Tynan and Anne Daly. 

ESPERANZA PRODUCTIONS recently produced the award winning SYRIA - THE IMPOSSIBLE REVOLUTION which is available on Amazon Prime in the US and UK, and on Vimeo On Demand worldwide.

More details here: www.esperanza.ie