Yu Fan is a student of Nanjing University. This year in May, she applied for AIESEC (Association Internationale des Etudiants en Sciences Economiques et Commerciales, means International Association of Students in Economic and Commercial Sciences in English), and planned to go to Lebanon to help the children of slums and give them psychological guidance.

“That county is full of mystery. I am so obsessed with its culture and history. People may have misunderstandings about Lebanon, and that is why I want to go there,” said Yu Fan.

Since 1975, Lebanon had a civil war that has lasted 16 years. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their homes. Relics covered with bullet holes and dozens of refugee camps are everything left from the war.

Yu spends most of her time with the kids in the refugee camps. These children are from Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria, who lost their home to the war. The government of Lebanon is not able to afford the running of all the refugee camps, so most of these camps are supported by the funding from non-governmental project and Qatar. Yu loves to take photos for the children here. She thinks these kids have the purest minds.

Though the economy of Lebanon is badly battered, it is still one of the most prosperous countries in the Middle East. “It is not as scary as people imagined, but sadly, it is almost impossible for Lebanon to find its way back to prosperity.”

Yu concludes Lebanon: stars, ocean, 17 religions, French streets, 5 languages, inflation, jammed traffic, turmoil, and refugees. 

This article is edited and translated from 《中国女孩从弹孔中看到的黎巴嫩》,source: China Youth Daily, author: Zhang Yandong