The situation for Syrians deteriorates by the minute.
Help vulnerable families. Please give today.
For millions around the world who’ve been trapped at home by coronavirus, it’s been an extremely unusual time. But when you’ve lived through over nine years of war, even the deadliest of diseases seem just like another detail.
The situation for Syrians deteriorates by the minute. COVID-19 threatens to harm as well as starve vulnerable families. Please give today.
In March, when the first infection was reported in Syria, a curfew was imposed, borders were closed, and travel was restricted between different parts of the country. Only essential shops were allowed to conduct business: shops selling medicine and food.
By mid-May, however, many restrictions were lifted. And the consequences could be disastrous.
This is a crisis within a crisis. As a result of the lockdown, many people, who already live hand-to-mouth, have been unable to make a living. To add insult to injury, prices continue to soar, making it almost impossible for vulnerable people, who have no alternative resources, to survive the pandemic.
Syria’s children are some of the bravest I’ve ever met. They’re surviving bombs and conflict. They’re surviving the heartache of losing their homes, their parents, their old lives. The COVID-19 pandemic is yet another devastating blow for children and their families in Syria, who have been through so much already.
The economic impact of measures to restrict the spread of the virus, the collapse of Syria’s currency and almost a decade of displacement have led to an unprecedented number of families who are no longer able to put food on the table. More than 9 million Syrians are now going to sleep hungry.
“I often wonder what childhood memory my kids will take with them when they are grown? Is it the memory of piles of rubble they stumbled over so many times on their way to school? The nights they had to go to bed with empty stomachs? Or memories of our destroyed neighbourhood? All of it will be a reminder of a happy childhood they should have had, but didn’t.”
Louay and his family live in Hamouriyeh, an agricultural town in Rural Damascus, once home to nearly 14,000 people who suffered through several years of brutal war and displacement.
“We haven’t been able to have a normal life during nine years of violence and now the coronavirus crisis is exacerbating all of the other issues we had before it came. This is too much to bear.”
Louay says that to cope, his family has had to cut back on the number of meals they eat each day.
I have met too many families like Louay’s, bravely trying to establish some sort of normal life for their children in the midst of so much heartache. As a parent myself, I can’t imagine the anguish Louay must feel to return home empty handed to his children, day after day. To see their faces fall. To try to reassure them that maybe he’ll have something tomorrow.
All over the country, the situation for Syrians deteriorates by the minute. COVID-19 threatens to harm as well as starve vulnerable families. If you can, please send food vouchers and clean water today.
I have some good news about Louay’s family. Along with other 434 families in Eastern Ghouta, they received chickens, tomato and aubergine seedlings, and another 1,000 cucumber and courgette seeds to help them get back on their feet.
Throughout Syria, we are stepping up our efforts to provide people with water to drink, and to wash their hands. In rural Hama, for example, we have helped 65,000 people get access to water in their homes.
After everything they’ve lived through, we can’t turn our backs on the people of Syria.
Thank you for anything you can give.
Colm Byrne, Humanitarian Manager for Oxfam Ireland
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