You're going to be. There's a saying amongst the Lebanese. It goes like this. When you think you have

understood Lebanon, then you have misunderstood it. I got to tell you that Lebanese

saying it's a hundred percent true. Last month September of 2016 I got to spend one beautiful heartbreaking life-changing

week in this country nestled on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea. I was there at the invitation of World Vision. They're a global

Christian humanitarian organization. And they wanted those of us on the trip and the people on the trip included everyone from journalists to activists and advocates, even people doing research on U.S. policy.

They wanted us to see the work being done to provide relief for the more than 1 million refugees

from Syria now living in Lebanon.

I'm Megan Teats and this episode is part one of a special series on

Sorta Awesome called a refuge for refugees. This is Lebanon. I have to confess right now that before World Vision asked me to come to Lebanon, I had

very little context for the plight of Syrians fleeing their country outside of what

I had seen and read in Western media, and even that was very little.

I thought most of the refugees were fleeing to Europe with an eye on eventually

resettling in Canada or the US. I had no idea that nearly 90% of Syrian refugees stay in the Middle

East. Those who can't afford to leave their war-torn homeland find their way to countries like Turkey,

Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, and Lebanon.

Lebanon, well here we are. Another confession for you,

as a child of the 80s, my only context for this country

came from news footage covering the Lebanese Civil War.

When I heard Lebanon, all I could see in my mind were military jeeps speeding through the streets of Beirut,

men perched in the back armed with AK-47s, groups of men on the street underneath bombed out buildings, hurtling grenades while

the sound of bullets rang out in the background.

In fact, after the Murrah Building bombing here in Oklahoma City in 1995, I called my parents

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