SCM is committed to helping the people of Lebanon following the blast in Beirut in August 2020, and the continuing economic crisis the country is embroiled in. The tiny Mediterranean country is host to over a million Syrian refugees, thousands of Iraqi refugees, and nearly a half million Palestinian refugees, and has the highest per-capita ratio of refugees to citizens – a quarter of the people in Lebanon are refugees.

Lebanon has been suffering an economic collapse over the last year and a half, with its banking system being called a Ponzi scheme and collapsing, 45% of the population living in poverty, defaulting on international loans and a credit rating akin to Venezuela’s (very bad). Gulf countries have provided some aid but that is beginning to dry up. There are rolling blackouts or just no electricity at all, especially away from the urban center of Beirut.

To make matters worse, Lebanon could get some of its needed power supply from neighboring Syria but the US recently enacted the Caesar Act that sanctions any person, business, or country doing business with the Al-Assad regime, and Lebanon fears buying electricity would result in the US placing sanctions on Lebanon, something the ravaged country could hardly survive. So for now, in the middle of winter, people are living without electricity. This is particularly bad in the mountains and Bekka Valley. It’s cold and snowy, the nights are longer, and people can’t really do anything but hunker down and stay warm in their homes (which could be a tent, a temporary building, or a cold concrete brick structure!)

Another looming crisis for Lebanon is the fight over the UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) program that provides food and other types of assistance to the Palestinian refugees. Israel and the UAE are working to get it shut down, and the program, which has been running in the red due to budget shortfalls and non-payment of countries like the US, is in dire financial stress.

While SCM is not a big organization, we are able to help 100’s of families with your support. We are providing LuminAID solar lanterns and phone chargers, food, and medicines but we need to get them more. The need is so great that anything we do is a drop in the bucket compared to what the people need. We provide food because the UN food programs have been cut way back. We provide blankets and solar lanterns because no one else is doing that in certain areas. We provide medications to help people who have seen the prescription drugs they need skyrocket in price or disappear off the pharmacy shelves all together.

Please make an end of the year, tax deductible donation to help us continue our work in Lebanon. Your donations go directly to help the people of Lebanon. https://www.scmmedicalmissions.org/donate/

The last of the medications were delivered in Lebanon, destined for cancer patients who are in dire need of these drugs. Thanks to Medglobal and SCM donors we procured $25,000 in medications for the people of Lebanon. Our local representative has coordinated the distribution of the medications to various clinics in the hardest hit areas of Beirut and also out of the city in rural areas suffering from the economic collapse of the country.

Please continue to support SCM so we can keep doing work like this to help the people of the Middle East, whether they are refugees fleeing violence or suffering under an economic collapse in their country. They need our help!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Our volunteers George Nasser and others went out yesterday, the 17th of November, and distributed 100 solar lanterns from LuminAID in the Chatoura area of Lebanon. The people living in these camps are the poor, the displaced, and refugees. The solar lanterns will provide light that gives them safety, allows children to study after dark, and some are also cell phone chargers! We need donations to help the people of Lebanon. We will get more solar lanterns and continue to work with our partners to do whatever we can to help – food, medicines, hygiene supplies, and more solar lanterns. Please donate here:

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

SCM recently partnered with Medglobal to procure cancer medications for patients in Lebanon. We were able to get $25,000 in needed medications that have become very scarce or completely unavailable in Lebanon due to the economic collapse. We received a list of the needed medications from Lebanon’s Ministry of Health and were able to purchase in Jordan, Egypt, and Germany, and even a few in Lebanon. Prices ranged from $100 to $2000 per dose.

Medglobal provided $20,000 in funding. SCM managed the procurement and added and additional $5000 funding via a generous donor. Our regional manager, Basel Sawalha, traveled to Lebanon to oversee the project and get all the medications to our manager there for distribution.

Unfortunately there were 3 or 4 medications that are over $2000 a dose and we could not purchase those at the expense of not being able to get more of another drug that could go to more people.

SCM is thankful for Medglobal’s partnership in this project to get the medications to the people that really need them.

Read more about the medication shortages here.

The situation in Lebanon before the blast in August was already precarious due to dysfunctional government agencies and massive economic problems. The people of Lebanon are suffering because of mismanagement by the government and need our help just to get the necessities and prescription medications. Please continue to support our efforts. Even through the pandemic people still need our help.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

SCM was able to coordinate a distribution of food items to poor and displaced families that are in the Bekka region of Lebanon. This was done with money raised by Gus Mansour and we gave out 50 food boxes at a cost of $20 each. You can see in the video and one of the photos what is in each box – staples like pasta, cooking oil, sugar, etc.

Thank you for your continued support! We will keep sending items in as long as we can via the Jordan Hashemite Charities from our Jordan warehouse, and we will continue to collect money for food, medicines, and minor repairs to homes damaged in the blast. We want as many people as possible to be able to go home or have shelter.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

This morning (August 30, 2020) the Jordanian Hashemite Charities Organization loaded a military plane full of supplies for the people of Lebanon. SCM helped to fill the plane with donations from our warehouse and purchased supplies of food, blankets, solar lanterns, and other needed supplies. We also provided money for more food and supplies to be purchased in Lebanon.

SCM is working with the JHCO to get supplies into Lebanon because we know the supplies will go directly to the people and not get “lost” in government hands in Lebanon. Lebanon is facing huge corruption problems and a crisis in government so this ensures your donations get right to the people who need them.

The airlift left Amman around 8:30 am this morning and the flight took 3 hours – it normally would take about half an hour, but because the situation in Syria they cannot fly through Syrian airspace and cannot fly through Israeli airspace. This means the plane must fly south and then into Egypt then go north out over the Mediterranean and then into Lebanon.

Please share this and keep our relief efforts going. The need is still great, and the next airlift (next week) will include supplies to help begin repairing and rebuilding people’s homes in Beirut. We will also need more food and medical supplies for the clinics.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•