Winter is coming to crisis-hit Lebanon

ENAR

For Neji*, the two-room apartment he shares with seven other men was supposed to be a refuge. Six years ago, he fled his home in Syria to escape the bombings that haunted ordinary life there. Last month, he narrowly survived the shockwave from Lebanon’s largest explosion as it tore through his neighborhood a mere kilometer away from the port, smashing windows and causing buildings around him to crumble. “All of our windows are destroyed, door locks broken, the walls have cracked, and parts of the roof in the kitchen have collapsed,” Neji says. “We need urgent repairs ahead of the winter but with no jobs and income we can’t afford to repair all the damage. Water is leaking from both the ceiling and the walls. We don’t live in dignified conditions, but we can’t afford to move either.” Neji was subsisting on informal work at the port. Work had already