Syria Crisis Appeal | Christian Aid

Christian Aid Credit: Christian Aid

6.6 million people in Syria had to flee their homes and became IDPs, and a further more than 5.6 million people became refugees.

We worked with our partners in Syria and Lebanon to provide support to some of the most vulnerable Syrian refugees.

Funds raised

£6m

We raised £6,025,827 since this appeal launched in March 2013.
People reached

160,000

We reached over 160,000 individuals in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon

Christian Aid’s response

With your generous donations, our local partners were on the ground in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon to support affected communities in the following ways:

Distribution of emergency items – hygiene kits; NFIs; winter items such as mattresses, blankets, pillows, fuel; food kits and daily hot meals; cash assistance; duty of care support to partner staff and their families
Protection services – Gender-Based Violence case management services and awareness raising
Livelihood support – agriculture and food production training; business skills training and small business start-up kits; cash for work
Children services – non-formal education, psychosocial support to children and young people and their caregivers
Reintegration support – judicial support, psychosocial support, and skills training to young boys in prison, alongside reintegration support to those recently released
Health care services – specialised targeted support to children with disabilities (physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, physical equipment)
Peacebuilding activities

Areas reached: Syria (Homs, Latakia, Suwayda, Tartus, Aleppo, Rief Damascus and Damascus), Iraq (Sulaimaniya and Erbil), Lebanon (Beirut, Bekka Valley, Nahr el Bared Camp, Shatilla Camp, Tripoli, Tyre), Gaza

Total number of people reached: over 160,000 individuals in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon

Local partners: Physicians for Human Rights, Association Najdeh, Mouvement Social, International Orthodox Christian Charities Syria,; Lebanese Physical Handicapped Union, KAFA Lebanon, Joint Christian Committee for Social Service in Lebanon (DSPR), Basmeh and Zeitooneh, Culture and Free Thought Association, Palestinian Medical Relief Society, Asuda for Combating Violence against Women Iraq, Rehabilitation, Education and Community Health Iraq

In Lebanon, our partner Association Najdeh provided aid to Palestinian refugees from Syria, to recover from traumatic situations, while Mouvement Social ensured refugee children can continue their education, as well as access psychological support to come to terms with their experiences.
Lebanese organisation Kafa - which supports women who have experienced exploitation and domestic violence, or who are at risk - worked with female refugees in the Bekka Valley.
Rehabilitation, Education and Community Health (REACH) has also provided vocational training to some of the most vulnerable refugee communities living in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, to help them find a way to make a living.
Within Syria, we supported our local partner to provide hot meals to people recently displaced.

Hygiene kit distribution in response to Covid-19

Through Christian Aid’s Covid-19 and Syria appeals, one of our partners delivered hygiene kits to IDPs in informal camps in Northwest Syria.

Through the project 8,575 hygiene kits were distributed, reaching 44,413 people. Items in the kits included: dishwashing liquid, jerry can, soap, detergent, toothbrush, toothpaste, nail clippers, rubbing alcohol, plastic pail with cover, shampoo, sanitary pads, and solar-powered flashlight. The contents of the kits consisted of items preferred and recommended by project participants, community members and the Health Cluster.

Hygiene kits being delivered to IDPs in informal camps in Northwest Syria

May God increase your generosity. Since my husband died, it feels like I’ve been breaking my back, and we die a thousand deaths just to get a bite to eat. Thank God for this kitchen, it has helped us a lot, and now we can eat food without the need to reduce our dignity as human beings.

- A mother who was helped by our food kitchen project in Ghouta in 2017.

Stories from Syrian refugees

Hammoudi

Six-year-old Hammoudi was born in Damascus with complex physical and mental disabilities. He was given two life-saving operations by the Syrian health service, but his third operation was cancelled when violence overtook the country.

More than one in five refugees suffer from some form of impairment, whether from birth, illness, accident, or a conflict-related injury. Syrian refugees with disabilities often can't get the care they need.

Thanks to the help of your donations and the work of our partner, Lebanese Physically Handicapped Union (LPHU), Hammoudi has learned to walk for the first time.

Read the full story

Zainab

Two-year-old Zainab has only grown to the size of a baby, partly due to her Down’s syndrome but also no doubt because of a lack of access to nutritious food.

She shares a tent with her parents and three older brothers; in the summer it’s an oven, and in the winter if it’s not snowing it’s a mud flood.

Zainab’s parents received little follow-up after her birth, and her Down’s syndrome was not recognised for eight months. But after receiving physiotherapy from our partner LPHU this year, she has been able to sit unsupported for the first time.

Zainab's story

Layan

Layan is a Syrian refugee living in Lebanon. Sadly, like many Syrian women, she's a victim of domestic violence. During times of conflict, women and girls are at greater risk of sexual and domestic violence.

Layan now regularly visits Kafa, a Lebanese organisation that supports women who have experienced, or are at risk of violence.

She said: 'Kafa helped me to get out of the awful situation I was in. I feel that there are people who care and worry about me.'

Kafa successfully helped to lobby the Lebanese government to pass a law criminalising domestic violence. The law also applies to Syrian refugees.

Read Layan's story