BEIRUT - On Beirut's Hamra Street, Ahla Fawda's EcoHub has transformed from a space for community and environmental projects into a lifeline for displaced families. Among the daily arrivals are people who fled their homes with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
In an exclusive interview with Enmaeya, Imane Assaf, founder of Ahla Fawda, shared how her organization rapidly shifted from environmental and community projects to urgent humanitarian relief.
“Many families share a single room, stay in abandoned buildings, schools, or even sleep in cars,” said Assaf. “But beyond these basic needs, the deepest need we hear from almost every family is the same: the hope and reassurance that they will be able to return to their homes.”
For Assaf and her team, responding to these urgent needs has required a swift shift in focus. The EcoHub now hosts a relief kitchen in partnership with We Deserve Better Association and Berzakh, preparing around 1,200 meals daily for families sheltered in nearby schools.
Displaced families also come to collect warm meals for Iftar, bringing their own Tupperware containers. Volunteers help distribute food, clothing, and hygiene supplies, while also organizing activities for children.
Yet the crisis has highlighted something beyond material survival: the extraordinary role of women in humanitarian work. “Some of the women from the displaced families themselves stepped forward to help in the relief kitchen,” Assaf explained. “Their involvement has been incredibly valuable, especially in helping us design menus that truly respond to the needs and tastes of the families we are supporting.”
Others join in distributing clothes, organizing children’s activities, and coordinating logistics, even while enduring the same stress and displacement.
Assaf described their resilience with admiration. “Some of the women we see are in their late sixties or older. They come on behalf of their families to collect relief bags, carrying heavy packages and walking long distances. Many are fasting, living in overcrowded rooms, or sleeping in cars, yet their concern remains the same: how to feed and care for their families.”
For Assaf, this work is both professional and profoundly personal. “It gives me focus and strengthens my love and attachment to Lebanon. I truly feel that I am in the right place, doing the work I am meant to do,” she says.
But the emotional toll is immense. “The hardest moments are trying to hold back your tears when people share their stories. Seeing an elderly person quietly ask for a can of tuna, or children clinging to their parents, confused and frightened, it’s a weight that stays with you.”
Looking ahead, Assaf sees women not only as first responders but as essential architects of Lebanon’s recovery. “Women already hold families and communities together. Imagine what Lebanon could become if these same strong and capable women were fully present in rebuilding the country,” she said.
Amid displacement and uncertainty, the courage, dignity, and resilience of women at the EcoHub stand as a quiet yet powerful force, holding families and communities together.
