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Follow Your Heart

Ahmad Rafif Al-Ftaih, born in 1977, is an IDP living in Al Hasakah City, married with children. Being blind, he was unable to find job opportunities and could not provide for his family’s basic needs. The family’s hardship doubled as they fled their home.


One of SSSD volunteers met him and helped him obtain initial approval on his project proposal. As the saying goes a thousand miles journey begins with a single step, he received financial and emotional support from SSSD team. He was enrolled in an entrepreneurial management course to train him on running his start-up small business project. Within a short period of time, Ahmad launched his audio services project.


The project radically changed the family’s livelihood conditions, it covered their needs and helped Ahmad build social relationships and overcome the isolation he used to suffer from because of his blindness.


Ahmad stressed that point by saying, “Not only did this project generate money, but also it gave me the opportunity to communicate with people and thereby be an effective individual in the community. My disability did not stop me from being part of this world, it was the means to reach what I wanted.”


The principle of “follow your heart” was Ahmad’s core belief and he relied on it to embark his life change journey, with the support of the Syrian Society for Social Development, his dream became true!