Saada's Story

In the chaos of sudden shelling, Saada didn’t have time to think. Like so many others, she grabbed what she could and fled.

“We were sitting at home when it started,” she recalls. “We went out, and everyone was already in the streets.”

The roads quickly filled with families fleeing and cars barely moving as people searched for safety. Saada was travelling with her children and grandchildren.

Now displaced, she shares a cramped space with her extended family. Days pass slowly. There is no work, no routine, only waiting.

“There’s nothing to do,” she says. “We just sit and hope for something good.”

Like many families uprooted by conflict, hers has been separated. One of her sons moves between places, rarely staying long.

“I’m worried about him,” she says quietly.

Displacement is not new to her. It is a pattern that has repeated across generations.

“It’s as if we were born into fleeing,” she says. “I fled, my children fled, and now their children are fleeing too.”

Even before this latest crisis, life was fragile. One day, while collecting, Saada fell and injured her leg. Stranded on the road, unable to move, she relied on strangers to help.

“Some people stopped and helped me,” she recalls. “They cleared the road so the Red Cross could take me to the hospital.”

She eventually underwent surgery, but recovery has been slow. Months later, she still depends on crutches and struggles with pain, made worse by existing health conditions.

“I have heart problems, high blood pressure, diabetes,” she says. “All of this is part of my life now.”

Daily life has become a series of small challenges. There is no gas for cooking, limited access to basic hygiene, and little access to proper medical follow-up.

Yet despite everything, her thoughts return to one thing: home.

“My home is where I feel at ease,” she says. “You can rest, eat, take a bath, and watch your TV with your neighbor.”

For now, that sense of normalcy feels far away. Like many others, she lives with uncertainty, holding on to faith and the hope of return.

“I hope everyone finds peace of mind,” she says. “And that we all go back to our homes, because home is where we belong.”