Relief & Mental Health Services in Syria

Syria Donor Report

Distribution of Food Baskets and Educational Supplies

4/13/2022

The following letter has been released by Jiyan Foundation for Human Rights center manager for Qamishlo, Syria, Azad Hassou on behalf of Internally Displaced Persons who received support from donors via Jiyan Foundation.

Dear Generous Donors,

On behalf of the 300 families who received direct relief from this project, thank you for your support in these difficult times. Our recipients agreed that they would like to extend their gratitude to the over 400 individual donors from far away who provided such relief. In their experience, the number of organizations providing these very basic services in northeast Syria has dwindled in recent months and due to the current economic and security situation in the region, such relief as expressed by one beneficiary is “life-saving”.

Jiyan Foundation for Human Rights office in Syria was able to provide 300 food baskets stuffed with nonperishable rice, lentils, canned tomatoes, dates, tea, bulgur wheat and other foodstuffs.  Each food basket can provide reliable meals to a family for three weeks and fight the very real threat of starvation many IDP families face.

We also provided 200 educational baskets of school supplies to children. Most children living in IDP camps or neighborhoods in the region have no access to these learning materials and so Jiyan Foundation staff decided this support could benefit the children in their long-term development. Each educational basket contained one backpack, four notebooks, an activity book, colored pencils, pencils, erasers, a pencil case, and a water bottle.

In total 500 baskets were distributed.

We made sure to procure all goods at fair prices through surveys of three vendors each for the foodstuffs and school materials. Northern Syria, like many other countries around the world, is experiencing fast-rising costs of these goods which unfortunately resulted in procuring fewer total relief goods than we had wished for. The chosen goods were selected on the basis of good quality and affordability. It was our goal to provide as much reliable relief to as many of the 400 families as possible. 

Overcoming obstacles to deliver necessary life-saving relief in Syria

Our distribution of life-saving goods had many obstacles to overcome. First and foremost our staff had to submit a letter to the Organizations Affairs Office and the Judicial Council in the area to obtain approval to survey the area and identify the names of possible displaced beneficiaries. This process to receive approval took much longer than we had anticipated and ultimately delayed our ability to identify beneficiaries.

Once approved our staff began to survey neighborhoods for families in the most desperate need and receive applications for assistance. Our team identified more than 400 families in need of foodstuffs. The great challenge that we faced is the presence of a very large number of displaced people and the urgent need for such relief initiatives. Our team could have continued identifying even more families in need however, it was decided that such activities would be in vain as we wouldn’t have the resources to provide for them all.

In total, this round of our initiative spent $8,000 raised through our campaign and donors like you to provide 300 food baskets to IDP families and 200 educational baskets to children. To date, 438 families have received direct relief from this project.

Help us continue our support in northeast Syria

To have the most reliable impact, we encourage donors to provide small, monthly donations rather than one-time large donations. This will allow us to plan ahead more effectively and provide more regular relief.

Please consider giving just $3 a month to provide food and other necessities to internally displaced families and Refugees in Northeast Syria.

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Syria COVID-19 Donor Report
Oct 26 2021

Due in part to the success of this project, our treatment center in the region has begun to receive more patients for psychological treatment and counseling.

As winter approaches, we are looking forward to providing much needed food and hygiene baskets to the families who need our support in in Qamishli and the surrounding countryside in northeast Syria. The next few months are the toughest on displaced families and we are focusing our efforts on these months.

Jiyan Foundation staff in Syria and our international office are reviewing the remaining budget raised from this project of approximately 10,000 USD to allocate supplies for the winter months and possibly reach more families. To date 138 families have received 9 months of support in the form of food, hygiene products, clothing/ blankets, and in some cases medication and financial assistance.

How we choose our beneficiaries
With so many families in need of support, our humanitarian workers have chosen to direct our assistance to the poorest families most in need.
Many of the 138 families that have received direct assistance from this project live in emergency housing. These facilities are converted from public buildings like stadiums and schools and are designed for short-term housing. Due to the current conflicts, displaced families in these facilities are staying much longer than intended.

Providing assistance directly to families means that our workers have closer relationships with each family and can closely assess their needs. The needs of each family are circumstantial and differ based on the size, ages, and health of family members. Each family has been provided with an average of $36 in total assistance per month. This is enough for 3-4 weeks of food.
Some individuals, mostly children and elderly, require medication for chronic or pre-existing conditions. For these individuals we have provided direct access to these medications as per their needs.

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