Rima’s Story | Eleven Relatives Killed Overnight

A sewing instructor at one of our Life Centers, Rima, lost eleven family members. 

While the earthquake that hit early in the morning on February 6 mainly affected Turkey and Syria, millions of Syrian refugees are spread throughout the region, including in Lebanon where we support several Life Centers. One of these Life Centers has a sewing school to provide vocational training to women.

Rima* has been our senior instructor at this sewing school for the past three years. She and her family left Syria eight years ago. The journey to Lebanon was hard and stressful but much better than the life she and her family had left behind. 

Rima has many siblings and relatives who were unable to leave Syria, including her sister and sister’s family who were trying to flee the country legally. The last time she spoke to her sister she was relieved to learn that the whole family would be leaving very soon.

Then, in the middle of the night, the earthquake hit. Rima felt the ground shaking in Lebanon, though the tremors were weak there. When she woke up that morning, she learned of the earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey. 

“As I heard the news my heart stopped beating. The picture of my sister and her family came to mind. I was terribly scared,” she said. 

Rima waited in vain to hear any news about her sister. After a couple of days the terrible news surfaced. Her sister, brother-in-law, and all their children were found dead under the rubble of their building. Her sister-in-law's family was also killed. 

“It was a nightmare, a nightmare I could not wake up from. Eleven members of my close family had passed away in an instant. I could not talk to anyone, I could not believe what was happening, and I could not accept it,” she said.

“For two days, I stayed in my house, full of tears, headaches, and in a state of shock. It was something worse than the war we had left behind in Syria.”

Photo courtesy of WCF’s partners.

After seven days, Rima rejoiced when hearing that a nephew of her husband was found alive under the rubble, saved by God. 

The boy said after he was rescued that he had been dreaming of his parents visiting him and giving him food and water. When he woke up, he said that he was determined to pay back a debt that his parents asked him to pay. 

Because Rima’s nephew has lost all of his family, our partners are doing everything possible to care for him and hopefully find him a safe place. He is not the only orphaned child but one of thousands. 

Despite their own challenges, the sewing students at the Life Center have collected as many clothes and blankets as they could. They also sewed 200 pajamas to be sent. 

More on our earthquake relief project can be found by clicking here.

*Name changed for security reasons.