FEATURE
IMAGINE what it would be like if, within the space of a few years, one and a half million people arrived in Scotland seeking refuge. That is what has happened in Lebanon: that number of Syrian refugees has arrived in a country not much bigger than our Highland Region and with a local population smaller than ours.
There are some in Lebanon who are unhappy at the loss of low-paid jobs and cheap housing to the refugees. Add into the mix the fact that it’s not many years since Syria and Lebanon were in conflict. Add in too the fact that virtually all of the Syrian refugees are Muslim, while roughly a third of the Lebanese people are Christian. Despite this, the churches in Lebanon are responding magnificently.