Help Strengthen the Resilience of Syrian Refugees

Dear Supporter,

As the war in Syria drags into its ninth year, the conflict has taken on a different shape. While the ordeal for those displaced during the conflict is not nearly over, many are now looking to the day when they can at last go home. Thanks in part to supporters like you, Concern has been helping people both survive and prepare for the future.

Khadija’s Story

“I loved my home. I loved it a lot. I was very happy. Everything used to be so normal, as it should be.” Khadija* fondly remembers life in her Syrian hometown before the conflict broke out. “I would like to tell people that Syria was once such a lovely place,” she says. “You always feel that you are missing something when you are not in your own country.”

Khadija and her three children have been living as refugees in Lebanon since 2013. Like thousands of once middle-class Syrian families, they have struggled to get by with very little. Most fled their homes with nothing. But Khadija is both strong and optimistic. “Though there are a lot of things I miss… it’s okay. I realize how lucky I am.”

Khadija was one of 25 women who were selected to work at local cooperatives, where she learned how to make various cheeses, which are then sold locally. The project is part of a network of income-generating projects run by Concern in northern Lebanon for both refugees and members of the host community. In this tiny country, nearly a third of the population are refugees, putting huge pressure on resources.

The skills being taught are useful now, but have also been chosen with an eye to the future. Dairy production, yogurt and cheese processing, and marketing techniques will remain as valuable resources for those who return to Syria to pick up the pieces of a shattered economy.

Khadija is ready to come home. Despite being many miles away from her Syrian home, she says the key to its front door is still her most treasured possession. “I may have lost my home, but my keys are still with me. I aim to go back to Syria someday, rebuild my home, and use the same keys for it,” she says.

*Names have been changed for security reasons.