10 Guest Blog Series - Shelby
Aida Palestinian refugee camp. Bethlehem, Palestine, 2015.
In 2015, I embarked on a trip to discover for myself the Israel/Palestine conflict. After four weeks learning from Palestinian Christian peacemakers and community leaders in the occupied West Bank, I was moved to commit to supporting Palestinians in their long struggle for justice and a place to call home.
In the years following my initial trip, I worked on a variety of design projects for Palestinian-owned businesses, volunteered for Palestinian nonprofits like Museum for the Palestinian People, and attended a Churches for Middle East Peace peacemaking and advocacy summit in Washington D.C. I got involved with the Albuquerque and Denver refugee-serving communities. I formed a missional community small group on Middle East Understanding and Peacemaking and spoke on these topics several times at my church. As an outlet and a way to share my heart, I made art about my trip and my hope for peace and for Palestinians. I was trying to stay involved, but I was all over the place.
I was searching for a meaningful, long-term opportunity to volunteer and continue learning. It was recommended to me that I meet Suzann, Executive Director of Beirut and Beyond, who was known and respected for giving her life to serve Palestinian refugees. We connected and I began to volunteer as an event photographer and graphic designer for social media fundraising campaigns. I was initially drawn to the work because I could see how Beirut and Beyond was directly impacting refugees, who are so often and unjustly left out of the global conversations and "solutions" regarding Palestine. I could see how Beirut and Beyond shines a light on a part of history and population we like to gloss over or erase entirely.
It wasn't due to a trip to the Middle East but from the work of Beirut and Beyond that my eyes were opened to the realities Palestinian refugees face. In hearing Suzann teach the unvarnished truth, I learned just how many Palestinians were forcibly removed from their homes, land, jobs, and lives 75+ years ago. Now, three or four generations of Palestinians live in refugee camps across the Middle East. Many of the 5.9 million Palestinian refugees today registered with UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency serving Palestinians since 1949) are concentrated in camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and internally displaced in Gaza and the West Bank. They cannot obtain citizenship in the countries where the camps reside, and they cannot return to occupied Palestine, so they are stateless and permanently displaced. Factors like the COVID-19 pandemic, lack of citizenship and rights in host countries, dramatic loss of international funding to UNRWA, and man-made disasters like the 2020 Beirut Blast have further devastated already-vulnerable refugees in volatile countries like war-torn Syria and economically-collapsed Lebanon. I realized the work of non-profits and individuals that work in ways to fill the gaps is more critical than ever. These camps and gaps are where Beirut and Beyond exists to do on-the-ground relational, relief, and reconciliation work with refugees.
Beirut and Beyond was founded 10 years ago in 2013 to provide support to Palestinian refugee-run national organizations across the Middle East. Shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with these Palestinian leaders, Beirut and Beyond is working to solve systemic issues in the camps. They're relationally motivated without a religious or political agenda, but rather a sense of responsibility to use privilege to evoke communal, solution-led change. They work to solve these issues by partnering with aligned nonprofits and projects that create jobs, promote livelihood and education, protect basic rights, and empower women to secure a better future for all Palestinian refugees. They also seek to educate Westerners on Palestinian narratives and history, foster awareness of the complications and intricacies of the wider Middle East, and amplify the power of collective giving.
In 2019, I got to see first hand the projects, partners, and impact of the organization on a three week trip to Lebanon and Jordan with Suzann. I offered my skills and time as a photographer, graphic designer, and writer to Beirut and Beyond and Palestinian-led partner organizations in the camps. As Suzann led me through two camps, Shatila/Sabra in Beirut, and Gaza Camp in Jerash, I trailed behind trying to take it all in and capture on camera what I was seeing. I photographed the living conditions and overcrowded 70+ year old buildings that were meant to be temporary. It was jarring and surreal; a reality check to help me gain perspective on the importance of these partnerships and projects. I captured the hope and humanity and life I could see too. What left the lasting impression were the people and the connection, as Palestinian hospitality is second to none, even here.
Shelby in Shatila Camp (taken by Suzann). Beirut, 2019.
Beyond the dusty corridors of the desolate desert camp, I can still smell the fresh sage plucked leaf from stem in the Hopes For Women Center in Gaza, where Sitti Soap is poured and herbal packets are produced for sale. This place is a vibrant, welcoming community of women and we’re brought tea and stories before I even get a chance to meet everyone. This is where you can find the thriving Hopes Library, funded by Beirut and Beyond, who employs two librarians and funds mental health retreats for Hopes staff and patrons.
Beyond the damp grit and hustle of the street, I can still taste the cardamom in the Arabic coffee at the Ahlem Lajeh cafe, a refuge and connection center in the middle of Shatila Camp. Ahlem Lajeh and Palestinian Civil Defense, two partner organizations of Beirut and Beyond that were founded by and for refugees, provide critical emergency services like first responder rescue, fire fighting, recycling, clean drinking water, and education services in Shatila and across Lebanon.
We visited other cities to see partners in Saida, Lebanon, and Amman, Jordan. Along the way Suzann introduced me to her many partners and friends, and I worked to tell the Beirut and Beyond story visually with photography rooted in relationship and dignity. I listened and learned and asked questions.
I witnessed not only the impact of Beirut and Beyond partnerships, but also transparency and integrity. I saw how partners were resourced with relationship and mutual aid (not just charity), with care and attention to the investment of resources like finances, time, and human capacity. I saw the process of how partners were vetted to ensure ethical and sustainable relationships. Beirut and Beyond practices a unique model that goes against the grain of the traditional ways humanitarian aid is often delivered to populations systematically placed at-risk. I got a glimpse of how challenging it is to do it the better way, and I see how it matters.
I was impressed, to say the least.
I continue to volunteer with Beirut and Beyond because I’m inspired by bold, unapologetic Palestinian refugee supporters with integrity. Integrity means being exactly who they say they are. It's actually having the impact they report and believe they are making. It's being transparent with supporter dollars and where they are going. And it's supporting organizations that do the same. Beirut and Beyond is trusted and respected by donors, Palestinian leaders, and the refugees they serve for these reasons and more. I've worked professionally in the nonprofit world for over a decade. Unfortunately, not all organizations make good stewardship a priority, rendering them harmful to the communities they want to help. I intentionally choose to work with those whose integrity I can also stand behind. I can fully, wholeheartedly stand behind Beirut and Beyond and their mission because they are making a clear, positive impact in Palestinian refugee communities. They’ve built a solid bridge for all of us to participate in peacemaking alongside Palestinians.
A staff member pointed out to me this plant growing out of the concrete wall of the JCC education center. He said “it’s resilient, just like Palestinians.” Saida, Lebanon, 2019.
Integrity is no more evident than in an organization's leadership. Suzann's compassionate service and relational drive, her Arabic language skills and culture sense, and her long haul engagement inspires me to continue volunteering, as do the stories and lives of the people she's introduced me to in the camps and beyond. Along with the advisory board and friends of Beirut and Beyond, she reminds me of my duty to protect the marginalized and use my privilege for good. They give me a lot of hope!
And together, I see we're making a difference.
With no end to the occupation of Palestine in sight, and no imminent right to return home for refugees, it is critical that we work together, using our own unique gifts and resources, to amplify Palestinian refugee stories and show up for some of the world's most vulnerable, deserving people. I’ll continue to volunteer in a storytelling capacity through graphic design, photography, and occasionally writing and fundraising, because that's how I'm most effective and where I'm needed most. As an artist and as someone who cares deeply about Palestinian refugees, I am truly honored to leverage my creativity, skills, and privilege to continue the work of shifting narratives about Palestinians and supporting them in their times of great need.
I am grateful to be a part of Beirut and Beyond’s work. Join us as we continue to tangibly champion and affirm the dignity of Palestinian refugees right now, in the coming years, and beyond.
Shelby Mathis is a freelance visual artist by profession and a humanitarian by vocation. Passionate about creativity, justice, and community, she partners with trailblazers working at the intersections of human flourishing and peacemaking by collaborating to bring forth meaningful and beautiful design, photography, and story. Her work and travels have taken her all across the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East, and she calls Colorado home. Follow her at shelbymathis.com.