Help Strengthen the Resilience of Syrian Refugees

Dear Supporter,

The last few months have been very busy for Concern in Turkey, as we continue with your support to implement programs supporting vulnerable Syrian refugees. Today I would like to share a story about our e-voucher program and one family that has benefitted from your generous support (names have been changed for privacy).

Concern assessed 7,201 households in eight districts in the southeast of Turkey to determine eligibility for financial support through the e-voucher program. Of these, Concern identified 57% of households as requiring financial support based on selection criteria, including the number of children in the household; income, rent, and income/expenditure gap; number of children out of school; number of people in the household affected by a disability or chronic illness; number of pregnant or lactating women; and whether the household is headed by a female.

Concern is currently supporting households based on these indicators (25,827 individuals) through the e-voucher program, through which Concern provides e-vouchers (similar to credit cards) to buy basic items, including food, hygiene items, household items, shoes, clothes, and fuel from local stores in each district. In terms of e-voucher spending, households typically spend 89% on food, 9% on hygiene, and 2% on clothing and other non-food items, including water and gas. This intervention is intended to help Syrian refugees living in Turkey stay in the communities in which they have settled and integrate into Turkish society and community life. Financial assistance through e-vouchers will enable Syrians to live with dignity in their new communities and avoid negative coping mechanisms, such as resorting to begging, child labor, or incurring debt.

Lima and her family are one household that is receiving e-vouchers through Concern’s program. Lima and her family live in a concrete room with no windows, the floor lined with carpet and mattresses against one wall. They have been living here for the last eight months. Lima cares for her four-year-old grandnephew Sami, whose mother was tragically killed in Syria when she shielded her son from a bombing that occurred close to where they were living. As a result of the explosion, Sami is blind in his left eye and has scarring along the left side of his head where he was hit by shrapnel.

Before moving to the concrete room, the family spent two months in a tent, but it was windy and cold because it was winter. Lima explains that the family cannot afford a nicer house to live in, but where they are now is still so much better than a tent. Lima has not been able to pay rent for the last two months, so right now the family is borrowing money from family to try to make ends meet.

When asked what life was like in Syria before the conflict started, Lima explains that her family used to have everything they needed but that she had to leave it all behind. She says she had to “save her soul.” Like her grandnephew, there is a distinct fear in her eyes and she moves uncomfortably as she reflects on the past. “Right now mentioning Syria, or when someone says Syria, I feel scared, as are the children… they are shaking because of the memories from there: the airstrikes, the bombings, the bloodshed and all these things—it is scary for us to remember.” As is a tragic truth for many Syrian families, Lima lost many members of her family due to the conflict. She describes the airstrikes and how “whole buildings were taken down to the ground, whole families were inside, they were dying in these buildings.”

When asked how Concern has been helping her family, Lima responds that she is praying for Concern all the time because of the support it is providing. She buys food with the e-voucher, nothing else, though she needs other things such as an electronic fan, as she is worried about the hot summer ahead. Though they still need household items and clothing, the e-voucher goes a long way in helping the family afford food, as Lima spends it on bread, tea, potatoes, and sugar. When asked if there is any message Lima would like to share with our donors, her immediate response is one of sincere gratitude: “May god bless you and protect you and thank you so much for what you are providing for us right now.”