Just in time for the baby

Serine Ouadis Toulough is a 35-year-old homemaker with two children. She and her husband live in Beirut, less than one kilometre from the epicenter of the August 4th explosion. Their neighbourhood was considered to be one of the zones of Beirut with the most damage and destruction.

At the time of the explosion, Serine was pregnant.

‘’Right when I heard the sound, I thought of my husband, my son and the soul inside my womb,” says Serine.

“All of a sudden, glass was shattered all over the place and everything was turned upside down.”

Serine’s husband owned a barber shop close to their home. The shop – and their livelihood – were lost in the explosion. Their house was still standing, but badly damaged. All the windows were broken and their bathroom was so damaged they had to shower at the neighbour’s house.

The entire family was shaken from the explosion. Their lives had come to a crashing halt.

“There was nothing we could do,” says Serine. “We started by taking away the glass and it felt like collecting all our memories and hard work of years and throwing them away.’’

Serine and her family received financial assistance from Action Against Hunger. They were able to get all their windows fixed, and make the necessary repairs to the bathroom.

“We got our shelter back,” says Serine. “We were able to celebrate our newborn.”