BAZAAR Goes Inside Enjy Kiwan’s Visit to a Refugee Camp in Lebanon
“The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that people can make a change in other peoples’ lives”
She may be one of the UAE’s leading presenters, MCs and businesswomen, but that doesn’t stop ITP Live’s Enjy Kiwan from giving back to society.
Driven by her desire to help others, the former investment banker and friend of UNICEF regularly shares her humanitarian missions with her 80k plus Instagram army, and most recently we’ve been following her on latest project – a visit with the charity to the Sabra and Shatila Refugee camps in Lebanon, which host both women and children fleeing from war-torn Palestine and Syria.
A teeming ground of humanity filled with the heart-warming smiles of its inhabitants, while conditions may be devastating, the camps are filled with love and hope – something that was instantly clear to Enjy on her arrival. “In the middle of a densely-packed maze of streets, I found a Kindergarten where Palestinian and Syrian children were as happy and as focused as in a similar Kindergarten anywhere in the world,” Enjy told BAZAAR. “You walk the streets of the camp and you see how horrific the life standards are – you see the dirt, the pollution, the danger. Horrific is an understatement. But when you go inside and you see what the NGOs have done, when you go into all the schools and the nurseries where the women meet and have their committees, you see children with happiness in their eyes, and strong powerful women who want to make a change. No-one would have ever been able to tell me that unless I had to see it with my own eyes.”
From teaching women how to be independent creative entrepreneurs to teaching children English and life skills, UNICEF’s work in refugee camps all over the world is nothing but astonishing. “The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that people can make a change in other people’s lives. And that happiness comes from within. These women have been told that they can’t do anything in life, they have seen their children and husbands killed, yet they still have the power and intention to do something with their lives. This is thanks to the work that UNICEF has done to change the mentality of these women. Their determination comes from the people surrounding them, who work day in and day out to help them rebuild their lives.”
So what’s next for Enjy? “The biggest change I’m going to make in my life is to stop being upset over the silly things. It might sound cliché, but we really really take our lives for granted. We are truly blessed in so many ways that we cannot really imagine, and I just hope that this will always be a reminder for me, and something that I can teach my kids as well.”
“The message that I want to spread is let’s stop just saying that what’s happening in the world is so unfair – let’s actually do something about it. By simply clicking on a link and donating, you’re actually helping every month. If we just take a very small amount out of our pockets, we can make a huge difference. Don’t underestimate the power of that.”
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