Give Support to 800 Syrian Refugee Families

Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe helps Syrian refugees in several countries, also in Turkey.
With 1.9 million refugees, Turkey is currently the country that has taken up the most refugees from Syria, and from Iraq, mostly displaced persons. Above all, the majority of the refugees live outside the camps. They have a hard everyday live and suffer from food shortages, lack of labor and prospects. In addition to the daily struggle traumatic memories of the expulsions and escape are coming up. We help those people, who live outside the official refugee camps and who are vulnerable and especially threatened by poverty.
Approximately one third of refugee families are suffering from the death of at least one relative. In addition to the traumatic experiences they had in their home and on the run, this is another reason for the urgent need for psychosocial assistance. Half of all refugees are children and most of them suffer partly severe trauma.
Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe has been active since 2012 in cooperation with the Partner Support to Life (STL) on site. The first emergency relief projects were addressed to Syrian refugees in the provinces of Hatay, Kilis and Gaziantep and provided them with food parcels, hygiene supplies and blankets. For subsequent projects a voucher system was introduced that distributes coupons for independent retailers of food and hygiene items every month. After the influx of refugees from Kobane (Syria) in September 2014, the DKH with STL supplied about 500 Kurdish families from Kobane and Yezidi families from northern Iraq with hygiene kits, cooking utensils, food parcels and blankets. The host communities are included in the help: In community centers kindergartens are established for all groups.
Even the emergency aid program in the provinces of Hatay, Gaziantep and Sanlurfa and the cities Dyarbakir and Batman will be continued also with funds from the Federal Foreign Office and the European Union this year. Thus, the refugees living outside the camps they are supplied with debit cards. Without the right to work the so-called "cash assistance" is in many cases a lifesaver, especially for the refugees, who are poor, socially disadvantaged poor and socially and have little to eat. This type of support helps the refugees to gain a stable and independent live, because they can buy things in a self-sufficient way according to they urgent needs.
Thank you for your support of this important work!