Refugee Voices:Greetings from Shatillab

From the heart on behalf of Shatila, mainly children and youth from the Children and Youth Centre (CYC) send you and all our brothers and sisters in Palestine warmest greetings. We wish you more and more success. I read your kind message today in the weekly large meeting in front of 47 boys and girls, and we made it a subject for discussion - what and how we understand the right to return.I explained to them what you are doing and encouraged them to write their opinions. I showed them a copy of al Majdal, which I got from my friend and some pictures I received from Jerusalem. I will try to translate certain issues from it and ask other friends to translate to make it easier for those who don't know enough English. I think it's important for the young Palestinian generation especially in Lebanon to be aware and to follow the great activities and great role you are filling.

I think that when you came to Lebanon you realized people here are living under circumstances that are not encouraging at all - politically, economically, and socially. There is a high level of mistrust between the refugees and their leadership inside and outside of Palestine. Everybody feels forgotten and people try to find solutions on a personal or individual level. That is why we find a lot of people, especially the youth, seeking to emigrate, with the support of their parents, to this or that country. Today we buried the fifth victim killed in their house in Shatila  amp. The reasons are unknown. Maybe there are thieves attacking the homes of old people to steal or maybe some gang is trying to spread fear among the people in the camp. No one really cares what is going on.

Last week we called a parent's meeting at the CYC in Shatila to discussion the education and health conditions of our children and the social relations within the family and society. We also explained to the parents what the CYC is doing, its yearly work and activities report. But the discussion turned out to be about the pain they feel: the unorganized nature of the camp, the lack of electricity, water, the flood every time it rains, the bad streets, the bad authorities, etc. The people are squeezed and fed up with life in Lebanon to the point that they might accept whatever is decided for them. Everybody is complaining, but there are few efforts to improve the ard conditions. All of us watch the new on TV and read the newspapers. We tell each other what we heard, what others said or decided without saying once what we think or how we respond. We are just waiting for things to come from the heaven, but they will never come.

In these days we are hearing about many small and big organizations, Lebanon and in the United States, that are working on the right to return, andwe are receiving long papers to sign on the right to return. I don't  know if there is coordination among them. I don't know why I am disturbing you with these stories, but as long as we are one we need to send and receive our news and to be informed about all what is going on with any part of our people inside and outside our country, although I know that there are many friends here keeping you informed better than me. Thank you again, I felt so happy with you letter, especially because if came from Palestine where our dreams, minds, hearts, ambition and struggle are looking forward.
Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Moujahed)
Shatila Camp