Women turning the roles around

“I helped people to recover, but I did not recover yet,” says Bariaa, 43, an educator and school administrative professional at Heliopolis School in Iaat village. “There are pictures that don’t leave my mind.”

For over 22 years, Bariaa has built her career around children, first as a teacher and later in school administration, teaching, listening to, and watching them grow. 

But when conflict reached her village Douris, in Lebanon’s Bekaa-Hermel district, it brought a different kind of lesson. 

_{Bariaa, a teacher and school administrative professional from Douris, Baalbek-Hermel, joined local volunteers responding to the needs of displaced families during the conflict. Photo: UN Women Lebanon/Georges Roukoz}

As displaced families arrived from southern Lebanon, the Bekaa and Beirut’s southern suburbs, she stepped beyond the role she had known, driven by what she calls “a pain greater than her own”.

“I could see children carrying more than they could bear,” she says. 

“I saw fear, anxiety, and tension in some children, changes in their concentration, and relationships with peers. I tried to understand what was happening. A child may not be able to say, ‘I’m scared,’ but may express it in other ways”. 

Bariaa also an advocate for women’s rights, joined local volunteers responding to growing humanitarian needs in Douris and across the Baalbek area.

Alongside young women and men, and her sons, Rafi, 24, and Ibrahim, 23, she helped identify displaced families and mobilize resources through community and diaspora networks. 

Together, volunteers reached more than 350 displaced families, providing food, milk, diapers, winter clothing and other essentials. They also mapped displaced families’ needs and locations to help target assistance.

For Bariaa, the work was never only about delivering supplies. As an educator, she paid attention to what people said —and what they did not say.

She recalls entering a home where a mother and her two daughters, aged 16 and 18, were staying. They were sharing a single mattress. There was little else in the room.

The mother only wanted to go home. Bariaa remembers her as “the silent mother, full of pain”. Bariaa sat beside her, introduced herself and began a simple conversation.

Slowly, the silence broke. “That simple exchange changed the atmosphere,” she says. “Once they felt safe, they opened up about what they needed.”

The strength women bring

Throughout the crisis, Bariaa witnessed women stepping into roles that challenged traditional expectations, opening their homes and supporting families they had never met.

“They gave everything they could, even though they themselves needed things,” Bariaa says.

“When I see a woman who needs help, I see myself in her. When I see a child crying, I see my son in that child.”

Women mobilized resources and supported others. “In the beginning, some people did not take me seriously, as a woman,” she recalls. But the crisis created a different reality. “We were turning the roles around.”

Her experience reflected a wider pattern. UN Women reports that 85 per cent of 387 women peacebuilders it worked with in Lebanon led humanitarian actions during the conflict, including supporting displaced people and easing tensions with host communities.

_{For Bariaa, supporting displaced families went beyond providing essential assistance. Drawing on more than 22 years of experience working with children, she also focused on listening to women and children and understanding the emotional impact of displacement. Photo: UN Women Lebanon/Georges Roukoz}

Protecting children, rebuilding trust

The emergency response continued, including toy distributions for children to ease the conflict’s psychological impact. 

According to UNICEF, between January and July 2026, 39,598 children, adolescents and caregivers accessed community-based mental health and psychosocial support.

With the situation calmer in the Bekaa, Bariaa is preparing to welcome students back to her school which was not damaged. 

For Bariaa, recovery must begin with children and go beyond returning them to classrooms, helping those carrying fear, anxiety, and loss, regain focus, and a sense of safety. 

She saw children, during the first days of escalation, screaming and hiding under tables, when motorcycles, loud noises, or sudden sounds passed by. 

“Before resuming education, children should be emotionally ready to learn,” she says, stressing the importance of play, drawing, recreation and psychosocial support.

With aircraft still overhead, a true sense of safety remains difficult to find—for children and teachers alike. 

For many families, recovery is still out of reach. Some have returned home, while others remain, waiting for the conditions to allow a safe return. Volunteers continue to support them.   

The humanitarian experience has also left its mark on those who helped. Bariaa sought psychosocial support to process what she experienced, but some memories remain.

“They come back, bringing that same feeling of pain with them.”

Yet the children she meets remind her that, even in the darkest moments, hope can live in the smallest things: a laugh or two children holding hands.

“Hope is something big,” she says. “It is in our everyday lives, but sometimes we don’t see it.”