MEET FATHER NICHOLAS

“Our city in south-west Syria has long been ignored by NGO’s, since there never was direct destruction, but the population has always been in need and we now face increasing security issues, like theft or kidnapping. Besides, we have more and more displaced people coming from neighbouring villages, some heavily destructed. Those displaced people put additional pressure on our already impoverished city, since whatever was available before their arrival was already not enough to cover the needs of the entire population.

In order to help serve everyone according to their needs and defuse the increasing tensions between communities, our church has been providing relief assistance to families from all backgrounds and religions for a long time. We are very thankful that we started partnering with FMEEC[1] and MERATH last year, because it helps us reach twice as many families as we used to and we benefit from their experience.

We provide food assistance to around 250 families from villages that do not receive any other kind of assistance. Because our area is about 3,500 ft high (1,000 m), winters are very long and cold, and we even have snow. This winter we have been able to provide a little over 700 households with blankets and electric heaters.

There are always new displaced people coming to our area. For one family who goes back to their village of origin, we have ten new displaced families coming to our area.

Some of them come from as far as north-east Syria. We never thought they would make it all the way to us. They literally walked through the desert to get here. I remember a family in particular, displaced all the way from El Hassakeh, whose seven-month old baby girl was blind, had additional malformation, and urgently needed a surgery to survive. When we met them and heard their story, we started helping them with food boxes, which have in turn allowed the family to save some money to buy fuel and keep warm. With the help of other organizations in our area, we also have been able to cover the surgery expenses for the baby and we provided the mother with a sewing machine so she can work from home and does not have to leave her baby girl with special needs.

A food box is never just a food box! It helps the family in many different ways, and it helps us establish contact with them to later on stay in touch and see how else we can help them.

The increasing security issues makes it more challenging for us to reach some of the families we serve. It is not always easy, but we thank God that so far, we have been able to support the people and continue the work.

What keeps us going is seeing the joy in the eyes of the people we are able to help. This is the only reward we need.

> Know more about our basic needs assistance programs 

> Check out our annual report

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[1] Fellowship of Middle East Evangelical Churches, MERATH’s partner organization in Syria.