Syria Support Movement solidarity with the Syrian people
This humanitarian assistance program began in September 2019 when the Syria Solidarity Movement traveled to Syria for the Third International Trade Union Forum in Damascus.
Thanks mainly to the tireless efforts of Syria Solidarity Movement steering committee member Issa al-Chaer we were able to also initiate an important humanitarian aid project in Syria with an initial donation of US$2000. This is direct aid, not through any other agency, but through Syrian volunteers working on the ground. Issa made the key connection with Yvette Tariyeh Shamier, an extraordinary Syrian and Dutch national who manages a network of volunteers. She is now the coordinator of our humanitarian aid in Syria.
Donate now to help SSM provide necessary humanitarian aid to suffering civilians in Syria.
Here are just a few of the humanitarian and charitable projects of this campaign:
Rashed Muhamad’s Story
Thanks to you, Rashed has recovered his mobility.
Rashed was a Syrian ambulance driver who was attacked while rescuing Syrian soldiers and paralyzed by a bullet to his spine. Despite Syria providing universal medical care, services are difficult to obtain due to sanctions. Thanks to you, SSM has been able to proved medical assistance, ongoing physical therapy and a new electric wheelchair.
Ammar Bilal’s Story
Thanks to you, Ammar is getting physical therapy and the help the family needs to become self sufficient.
After his family was driven from their home by terrorists, he was wounded in the spine by a sniper bullet and became paralyzed from the waist down. SSM helped the family to finish the house Ammar had started building and open a small shop that has allowed them to become self-sufficient.
Khaled Murad’s Story
Thanks to you, Khaled’s heart is repaired!
This is Khaled Murad after the operation that you made possible, unblocking the artery to his heart. The blood can now circulate freely, and he is already feeling much better. Thanks to all of you for supporting this operation. The debilitating sanctions on Syria prevent most outside aid from reaching Syrians who need it. The government health service is also severely limited in the services it can provide to its people, also because of the sanctions. Ordinarily, Syrians would not need such aid, but the sanctions are preventing Syria from offering normal public services to its people. It is also destroying the economy, so that Syrians are less able to provide for themselves. With this operation, Khaled will be better able to care for his family. Thank you for making a difference.
Donate now to make more projects like this possible.
Badiaa Khudeir’s Story
Badiaa Khudeir is a homeless internally displaced widow of a soldier killed in the war with three children ages 6, 11 and 12. They were living in parks and damaged buildings until we got a basic apartment for them and some simple furnishings, which enabled her to get work as a cleaning woman in the community.
Ghazzal A’s Story
Ghazzal is a 13-year-old girl who was burned a year ago trying to light the stove in their apartment. She has had one operation and needed a second; both were supported by the Syria Solidarity Movement. Today, Ghazzal is recovering at home.
Donate now to make more projects like this possible.
Rashed’s Story
Rashed is a civilian ambulance driver who was severely wounded in the town of Qusayr. When he and two paramedics went to provide emergency medical assistance and rescue to two wounded soldiers, their ambulance was attacked by fighters who specifically targeted their medical team and civilian ambulance. Rashed was the only survivor that day. SSM’s charitable initiative is providing a rechargeable battery for his wheelchair – otherwise inoperable – as well as covering the costs of his rehabilitative physiotherapy for a year.
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Rashed meeting with Syria Solidarity Movement team. -
Rashed, injured civilian ambulance driver, receives physiotherapy. -
Weekly physiotherapy sessions with Rashed, paralyzed civilian ambulance driver.
Donate now to help Rashed continue to receive the therapy and support he needs.
Muhsen and Lawahez Hammoud’s Story
Muhsen and Lawahez are the parents of five children, two of whom are severely handicapped. Until recently, the family had no working refrigerator or stove. Lawahez, Muhsen’s wife and the mother of the children, had a severe hernia that needed an operation in a hospital stay far from her home. We paid for it and her convalescence
Issa Chaer, Rick Sterling and Paul Larudee of SSM had the opportunity to visit their home in Homs. Thanks to this humanitarian project, Yvette found the funds to buy them these necessary appliances as well as a wheelchair that allows the two handicapped brothers to regularly visit the neighborhood outside their home for the first time in their lives. SSM funds will permit the construction of toilet and bath facilities that until now have been minimal in the extreme in their home. For now, the kitchen, toilet and bathroom still needs doors and windows and all need to be finished, for a total of approximately $1,300.
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Muhsen and his family meet the SSM team. -
Muhsen’s sons in their wheelchair. -
Muhsen’s family relaxes with the SSM charitable team.
Donate now to help the Hammoud family and other Syrians in need.
Support Stranded Syrian Students
A group of Syrian students, including Haidar, Layal and Hussein S. arrived in India in 2019 to study in Marwada as part of the sponsored scholarship by Edsel but have since been stranded, requiring support. Since their arrival in India they have not received any of their promised stipend.
Thanks to your support in the Spring 2020 semester, they were able to survive to the current academic year. The university they are at is currently providing them with temporary accommodation and basic meals since the lockdown. However, they currently do not have any money to live on or even money to buy soap, wash their clothes or even get medicine. In the current COVID situation, this is becoming a major health risk.
These are working-class students without family wealth to support their studies. The father of one of the students is a labourer (plasterer) with 6 children and can’t even find money to feed his children in Syria. He asked many people to borrow money to send to his son, but none of his neighbours in Syria were able to help because not the current inflation and lack of income.
The students have promised this will be sorted in February 2021. But in the meantime, they have nothing to help them to get by. Some other students have already returned to Syria, forced to leave their international studies due to the lack of support.
They need $50-80 dollars per month each for the period until February 2021. Even $50 a month would help them get by until their scholarship is resolved.
Donate now to help support these Syrian students to survive and study.
See the videos below to hear testimonials from these students about how your support helped them in May. They need your help once again:
Dalal’s Story
Dalal is a young woman living with developmental disabilities. Thanks to the support of SSM’s charitable assistance team, she was able to receive an urgent eye operation to save her sight in her left eye. She is already completely blind in her right eye. Dalal received an operation in Tartous. After the surgery was completed, she was able to recognize the face of one of her two sisters, who also have disabilities, while her bandage was being changed.
Here is Dalal going into and out of surgery: