In-built 1875 and modelled on the Chapelle Saint-Marc in Lyon, the church was initially supposed to be the chapel for St Joseph College, which was opened by French Jesuits as a part of France’s colonial-era “civilising mission”.
Its pale stone facade rises above a busy Beirut avenue. In the present day, it stays below Jesuit stewardship, with Father Michael Petro main the parish.
“It’s an attention-grabbing house, as a result of it’s on the sting of Ashrafieh, a predominantly Christian, francophone space, which has loads of rich Lebanese individuals dwelling in it. But it surely additionally has their home employees. From the beginning of the primary waves of migrants within the 70s, this place grew to become often called a spot for them,” he tells Al Jazeera.
Each Sunday, throughout peacetime, the gravel automotive park is remodeled right into a cricket floor. Indian and Pakistani migrant employees play softball cricket whereas households sit on the sidelines sharing home-cooked meals, catching up with associates and having fun with certainly one of their few days away from work.
In the present day, the environment may be very completely different.
As a substitute of the crack of a plastic bat and Bollywood music spilling throughout the church grounds, rows of mattresses line the flooring, and laundry hangs from railings. Males slouch on plastic chairs littered across the church, scrolling by way of their telephones. Ladies carry blankets and washed garments in plastic tubs. Solely the kids appear in a position to break the subdued temper, darting between adults and filling the house with bursts of laughter.
“When the warfare escalated, we instantly had giant teams of Sudanese and South Sudanese come right here,” Father Michael says. “They confirmed up as a result of they might ask neighborhood leaders what to do, and have been informed to come back right here, as it’s the first place they trusted.
“On one hand, that is very lovely, as a result of individuals thought they might be welcome right here, they usually have been.”
Nevertheless, the pressure of being a primary port of name for thus many displaced migrants is starting to point out.
Provides are low, and tensions sometimes flare amongst these sheltering on the church. Father Michael says the church reached its capability of 250 individuals on simply the second day of the warfare.
“We have turned away greater than 100 individuals in the previous couple of days,” he says. “It is a catastrophe.”
Mohammad says day by day life has develop into more and more troublesome, notably for the reason that arrival of their son.
“We do not need sufficient garments, particularly now that the child is rising. Additionally, my spouse’s vitamin shouldn’t be nice. Generally she will get constipated, after which the child turns into unwell. We want extra protein and greens. The weight-reduction plan is a large concern.”
Residing in crowded circumstances, surrounded by uncertainty, has taken a toll on individuals’s psychological wellbeing, Rufaida says.
“Due to the environment and psychological well being issues, small issues develop into large ones. I mentioned good morning to somebody, they usually didn’t prefer it. There are not any large fights, however there may be an underlying stress.”
Each say they perceive why tempers typically fray. Lots of these sheltering on the church have fled warfare, misplaced properties and spent months or years dwelling with uncertainty.
Small issues develop into large ones.
Their gratitude is rooted partly in what occurred when Rufaida sought maternity care.
At Karatina Hospital, they are saying they have been repeatedly ignored by medical doctors in favour of Lebanese sufferers. “We have been there to get papers so she may give delivery in that hospital, however we have been ignored, and Lebanese individuals have been allowed into consultations first,” Mohammad says.
After ready for 3 hours, a employee from the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), who had accompanied them to the hospital, intervened and helped guarantee they have been seen.
By help coordinated by JRS and accomplice organisations, your complete price of Rufaida’s being pregnant was coated, together with prenatal care, the cesarean supply and Ahmad’s vaccinations.
“It gave me consolation and peace that I used to be in a position to ship in a secure surroundings,” Rufaida says.
Their expertise is more and more widespread amongst Sudanese migrants in Lebanon, a lot of whom have discovered themselves uprooted greater than as soon as — first by warfare in Sudan after which by battle in Lebanon.
Rufaida’s story is way from distinctive. Based on figures printed by the Worldwide Group for Migration (IOM) in August 2025, there are 164,097 migrants dwelling in Lebanon, of which 14,854 are Sudanese nationals.
That quantity represents solely a small fraction of the 4.4 million Sudanese who’ve fled their nation for the reason that outbreak of civil warfare in April 2023.
Some, like Rufaida, arrived on vacationer visas. Others discovered jobs as concierges or home employees, below Lebanon’s kafala sponsorship system, which ties a migrant employee’s authorized residency to their employer.
Human Rights Watch has described the system as, at its worst, a form of modern slavery.
About 3,800 Sudanese have additionally discovered asylum in Lebanon as registered refugees with the UN Refugee Company.
For refugees in Lebanon, a UNHCR registration card can imply way over a bit of paper. It presents a measure of safety from detention or deportation, can unlock entry to help and training the place providers exist, and, for a lot of, represents their greatest hope of in the future being resettled out of the country.
Amongst them is 30-year-old Roudaina Mustafa.
