Lebanon / Syrian Refugees / Jalila, 55, holds a photograph of her deceased daughter-in-law, Amal, at a shelter at Dilhamye tented settlement in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, on 10 January 2015. Amal gave birth to triplets on New Year’s Day but 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 tends the babies with an expert hand she speaks of the tragedy that has befallen the family, “I’m scared for these children, they have God and me and their father,” she says. “I will keep them warm and hopefully God will have mercy on them.”
Amal’s own mother died while giving birth to her and when Jalila remember how history repeated itself tears well in her eyes, “We took her to the hospital and there was nothing was wrong with her. After the birth they showed us the kids but they didn’t bring her out,” she says. “Then they told us she had died. Amal was very excited about having triplets, she had decided on the names – Riyadh, Ahmed and Khaled.” Amal’s husband Saleh puts on a brave face to visitors and does not show his grief but Jalila tells of the pain he is feeling, “I woke up in the middle of the night and my son was crying holding his other 3 children because they were missing their mother,” explains Jalila. “I didn’t know what to do.” UNHCR / A. McConnell / January 2015
