Lebanon / Syrian Refugees / Triplets, Riyadh, Ahmed, and Khaled, born on new year’s day are tended to by their grandmother, Jalila, 55, at their shelter at Dilhamye tented settlement in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, on 9 January 2015. The triplets mother Amal suffered from heavy bleeding during the birth and died shortly afterwards. Amal’s husband Saleh has been left a widower and along with the couple’s 3 previous children is now responsible for 6 children in total. Saleh’s mother Jalila and other women from the extended family have taken up the task to look after the triplets, a task not made any easier by the worst winter storm in years currently sweeping through Lebanon. Jalila raised 12 children of her own and as she changes the babies with an expert hand she speaks of the tragedy that has befallen them, “I’m scared for these children, their mum left them to me, she put the suffering on me,” she says. “I will keep them warm and hopefully God will have mercy on them. They have God and me and their father. Amal was very excited about having triplets, she had decided on the names – Riyadh, Ahmed and Khaled. ” UNHCR / A. McConnell / January 2015
