January 2020, I had the privilege of supporting a charitable mission in Lebanon, working with organisations providing aid to Syrian refugees living in United Nations-supported camps and villages. Over the course of the visit, we travelled to four different camps across the country during a period of rising tensions, just weeks before global COVID-19 lockdowns came into effect.
This was likely one of the final support missions carried out in the region before the pandemic brought international travel and humanitarian access to a halt.
It was a deeply moving and, at times, heart-wrenching experience—one that offered a profound insight into the realities faced by those displaced, and which has left a lasting and meaningful impact on me.