A Decade of Despair

It has been Islamic Help’s longest sustained emergency programme – providing emergency aid coupled with longer term support for Syrian refugees in the Middle East. Since the eruption of Syria’s civil war in March 2011, the region has experienced untold suffering that has had wide-reaching consequences.

The figures make grim reading. According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, more than 380,000 people have been killed – nearly a third of them civilians – and approximately 200,000 are missing and presumed dead.

About 6 million Syrians are internally displaced and 13 million in the country are in dire need of humanitarian assistance. Another 5.6 million are refugees in neighbouring countries, relying on humanitarian aid agencies.

Islamic Help’s programme response has been concentrated in Jordan, which is home to 664,000 Syrian refugees (source: UNHCR Feb 2021) and Lebanon which hosts 865,000. We have also carried out related projects in Turkey (3.6 million refugees) and Iraq (240,000).

Following our initial projects in 2012, our international teams ramped up their response as a trickle of refugees turned into an exodus. In 2013, aid was distributed to more than 90,000 refugees in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, a level of provision that remained constant over the following years.

In 2020, more than 100,000 Syrian refugees received aid as a result of the generosity of our donors and partners. Since responding to our first emergency appeals, our supporters have provided aid that has now benefited nearly 700,000 Syrian refugees. In Jordan, our team has been especially focused on making sure aid reaches refugee communities in isolated or hard-to-reach areas which are often neglected by other humanitarian agencies. For many of those beneficiaries, our donors have been their only means of support.

Much of that aid has been in the form of emergency or seasonal (Ramadan and Qurbani) food security; water provisions; winter clothing and fuel, and medical aid. As part of a more holistic and longer term approach, we have also established programmes to meet beneficiaries’ needs in areas where they cannot, or are not allowed to, access public services.

Prominent among these have been our Birth Clinic for pregnant Syrian refugees and their new-borns, and schools for Syrian refugee children to ensure they receive their entitlement to the basic human right of education.

Birth Clinic

The clinic acts as a focal point of services for pregnant refugees, mothers and babies. From initial check-ups to determine the expected date of delivery, it meets the costs of deliveries which are carried out by medical service partners; provides ante-natal and post-natal care, and nutritional support to the expecting mothers and essential nutrition to malnourished new-borns.

Fully furnished with access to the latest medical equipment, it features a maternity ward, a paediatric ward, an emergency room, a dentist’s room and a reception area and waiting halls for patients. The fully qualified medical staff include a gynaecologist and paediatric doctor along with a nurse and a lab technician plus service personnel (all women).

All of it has been designed to help save the lives of, and ensure the well-being of, pregnant refugees, mothers and new-borns. As well as Syrian refugees, the facility has started caring for some Palestinian refugees and is providing basic medical services and more specialised care for some patients who might need frequent visits, like mothers who are diabetic or suffer from hypertension.

Since it started, the Birth Clinic has seen approx. 30,000 patients and helped nearly 2,500 Syrian refugees to give birth safely in hospital.

“I received clothes for the baby and all the items she needed. As for me I got the referral to the hospital and the medical treatment and attention I needed for my pregnancy and labour. It’s a nice feeling and, God willing, I hope to be a good mother.” Syrian refugee Isra who, with the support of the Birth Clinic, gave birth to a healthy daughter, Layan

Click here to support the Birth Clinic: www.islamichelp.org.uk/birth-clinic/

Education to save a lost generation

The Syrian civil war has had a profound impact on one generation in particular – the young. While thousands have little or no recollection of the country in which they were born but forced to flee at a tender age, countless others have been orphaned and suffered emotional and physical trauma.

There are an estimated 1.5 million school-aged Syrian refugee children in Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon, but approximately half of them do not have access to formal education, putting them at risk of becoming a ‘lost generation’ in their formative years.

As part of our evolving work helping Syrian refugees, our Jordan team established a project to provide education for refugee children living in random camps in desert areas near the Syrian-Jordanian border. Whether for reasons of security, social or cultural tensions, their families have opted not to move into large camps but to pursue a nomadic existence, moving from area to area and relying on seasonal agricultural work or aid agencies.

As a result, the children experience a multitude of issues that adversely affect their lives even more. As well as missing out on education and social welfare, they are at greater risk of nutritional deficiencies and ill health as well as being vulnerable to child labour, early marriage for under-age girls and violence.

Our education project was set up to provide schooling – including lessons in Arabic, English and life skills - and food for children aged 6 to 16 years, at camps in the governate of Mafraq. The targeted groups are children who are missing out on education, orphans, teenagers, those with special needs and youngsters suffering stress and trauma. As well as a comprehensive educational, cultural and recreational curriculum, the children’s nutritional needs are also being met through the provision of healthy meals.

The classrooms are in specially-converted caravans that feature bathroom facilities, carpet mats, chairs and tables. Qualified teachers take classes with the children being provided with stationery and, as well as formal education, the opportunity for recreational activities such as visits to archaeological sites and other locations to help broaden their outlook on life.