Displaced from Raqqa, Salman’s family who currently live in a rustic rural room in the foothills of a mountain village of rural Banias, managed finally to secure fresh drinking water after receiving in-kind assistance from SSSD-Tartous, namely, a water tank with its necessary accessories.
Salman, who is the sole breadwinner of an eight-member family (including a war-disabled daughter who lost her foot due to the explosion of an AXO), asserts that the water storage tank secures his family safe, potable water for cooking and drinking, whereas they previously relied on a barrel which was only suitable for specific uses.
It is noteworthy that the SSSD team monitored the situation of the family, who suffer from severe shortage of living basic necessities, as they fled home in a panic and were therefore unable to bring along any supplies. Salman’s family wishes to be targeted with other in-kind assistance because of their dire need and extreme economic destitution.

Mariam was barely 20 years old when she gave birth to her first child. Although hardly 25, she is now mother to two daughters. Repudiated by her husband, she had to return to her father’s, along with two little girls on her lap, devoid of any source of income to provide for her offspring. She now dwells in a cold, mountainous, rural area, in a small room, built painstakingly upon her request by her brothers, in respect for her privacy.

After the girls started going to school, the situation worsened, especially with the coming of winter. Her almost bare room had no proper furniture, nor a heater even.

Mariam was monitored by the SSSD ORVs, who referred her to the In-kind Assistance Program. Her first, pressing request was to provide her with a stove to fight off the bitter cold and get some warmth with her two little daughters. As she was previously unable to help the girls with their lessons, she used to go to her parents’, or to the house of some relatives of hers, to seek some warmth—not to mention the girls being prone to frequent colds and flu because of exposure to bad weather conditions.

Being provided with the stove, Mariam can now keep warm and safe in her room and help the girls with their homework, sparing herself the embarrassment of embarrassing anyone. She no longer has to buy medicines or wait endlessly in a doctor’s waiting room.

Believing in the necessity to promote vulnerable groups in community and help them keep pace with others in securing livelihoods and decent living, SSSD, with support from UNHCR, provided a small cattle farming grant (a cow) to Ms. M.H., who lives in al-3leiqa village with her four children and old sick father-in-law in the same house. The woman is the family’s sole provider, with no husband or regular income to support them.
Her new small business turned her into an effective person, capable henceforth of securing her needs and those of her children in food, drink, school uniforms, etc., thus dispensing with people’s pity and charitable donations

Mohammad Salem ‘Aboud, ‘Ali al-Maz‘al and Shaden Hawash al-Maz‘al, children barely 10, were displaced from Deir az-Zaur, their place of origin. Leaving behind all their possessions, they had fled the war, only to settle in the coastal city of Banias, where their families rented houses that sheltered them under tough economic conditions. As a result of these tribulations, the children were not able to register at school and were, therefore, deprived of their right to education.
Luckily, they heard from their mothers—who attend the Hear-My-Heart Programme sessions at the Beit al-Yasmin Community Center—about SSSD and the educational activities held thereat. Those activities are conducted in the framework of the Informal Education (IFE) Programme, involving children who dropped out of school through educational sessions using simple, interesting recreational methods. Information is thus conveyed in an otherwise participatory and communicative way than the conventional, lecture-based learning method. Hence, the mothers promptly registered their children in the IFE, plainly satisfied with a programme that would teach and help their children.
For two months, the children became regular visitors of the Beit al-Yasmin CC and were very happy with the information they learned. There was however a disadvantage: the CC was too far away from home at the town centre. So, to spare them the mobility discomfort, they were moved to the Ward Jouri SSSD satellite center which was opened at downtown Banias, where they resumed attending the sessions. Three months had passed: two at Beit al-Yasmin and a third at Ward Jouri, but the outcome was truly rewarding: they had learned the basics of reading and writing and arithmetic and were thus ready to return to school.
Nevertheless, the SSSD team kept working with the children, helping their parents register them in the public school, and accompanied them to the Educational Complex in Banias. The gesture was greatly appreciated by the children’s parents who warmly thanked the SSSD team. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart. You gave us back joy and contributed to realizing our children’s dream and ours as well: you made them get back to school, just like their peers!” said one of the mothers.
On Day 1 of the new school year the children, before going to school, came to Ward Jouri so we could see them in their brand-new school uniform. They were so excited! Later on, one of the SSSD volunteers went to the school to check on them. When she saw her, Shaden rushed toward her saying, “I’m so happy that I got back to school. I’ve already three new comrades!”