The Syrian Society for Social Development, in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, conducted recreational activities for children staying in the collective shelter, Al-Liwa School, Al Siahee Neighborhood.

The team attached to Beit Al Kel Community Center, Al Qamishli aimed at assessing the needs of the children, instilling the spirit of cooperation, and developing their integration skills.

During the movement games, one child was afraid to been seen in photographs because of an incident he encountered. "My uncle died, his photo was all over media channels because of his political views. I do not want my photo to be seen by others. I do not want to die."

A girl said, "I do not want to be seen on TV. I do not want anyone to pity me for living in a school."
A child, who went through leg amputation surgery in 2014 as a result of the violence the area witnessed, refused to take part in the running contest in the beginning, claiming that he was old for playing. And later changed his mind expressing his ability to compete with his peers and took part in the contest.

The kids were happy and expressed their joy of future team visits. One of the girls confirmed, "I wish the facilitators would stay with us for the rest of the day. I felt really happy and joyful for the first time in my life in this stranger city."

The Syrian Society for Social Development, in sponsorship by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, conducted an activity for a group of IDP women staying in the collective shelter, Al-Liwa School in Al Siahee Neighborhood.

SSSD team attached to Beit Al Kel Community Center, Al Qamishli conducted the activity, with the aim of getting to know the women, assess their needs, and introduce the services SSSD offers.
The women talked about the hardships they faced during their internal displacement.

One woman said that she was facing many difficulties since she had to provide for her children and carried on that her kids faced school adaptation problems. She also highlighted the fact that most IDPs were rich; thus, their hardships doubled during the war for losing all of their property and belongings.

Another woman opened up her heart about her feelings; she felt humiliated for repeated internal displacement to several areas, giving an example of one service provider who put 80 families in one school that only had 8 rooms. She said that she was denied of her privacy and that she was not able to rest, because there were many men around in the same rooms. "I was not able to take off my Hijab, even though it was very hot during summer."

A third woman used to hide behind her kids while lying down to ease off her back pain.
Most women talked about their inability to cope with gypsy families who have very different customs in terms of cleanliness and being very open.

"From now on, I will make time to take care of myself. I will revert to beneficial things and keep away from social media."

"I am so happy to be part of this initiative; it introduced me to mature people coming from different age groups, their experience made me realize that there are beneficial things to enjoy, other than social media channels."

"This initiative stressed the importance of continuous communication with our kids to ensure they do not use cell phones for long periods of time."

The above-mentioned comments were made by the women and girls who attended awareness raising initiatives throughout the community centers attached to the Syrian Society for Social Development (SSSD) during September, namely, Shams Center in Al Shaar, Arabesque Center in Bab Hadeed, Amal Center in Al Fardos, Mosaic Center in Al- Asharfiyyeh, Sada Satellite Center in Sakhour, Al-Hader Satellite Center in Rural Aleppo.

The initiative "Use me Safely" was launched by women committees who actively attracted the largest possible number of females from all age groups, with the aim to raise their awareness levels about the negative effects of the overuse of social media channels, especially domestic violence.

Based on community assessments, the women committees plan to launch a complementary initiative to train females on handicrafts, namely, wool knitting (incorporating beads and making flowers). Handicrafts would help them invest their free-time in beneficial things and keep them away social media.

Here are comments made by two women from the women committees:
"The upcoming initiative, wool knitting training next month, is very important. It will occupy the free-time of girls and women to learn something beneficial."
"We worked on attracting new females to ensure the wide spread of awareness among people. The success of this initiative motivates us to launch more initiatives."

Out of the belief that art is an international language every human being can speak, taste, and enjoy, the Syrian Society for Social Development, in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees organized an exhibition "Made with Care and Love" in the Gallery of Fine Arts, Aleppo.

The exhibition showed the paintings and pieces of handicrafts made by beneficiaries as part of the summer club activity-series, with the hope of encouraging them to grow their artistic skills. The team responsible for child protection program selected the best pieces to be displayed in the exhibition. A large number of beneficiaries from all the centers throughout Aleppo City and Rural Aleppo showed their pieces of art in the exhibition and around 1100 people attended the exhibition (men, women, children, and adolescents).

Many beneficiaries were happy to share their feelings with us:
"A dream is one step away!"
"I am in the process of realizing my dream."
"Nothing is more beautiful than art."
"When you nurture and support a kid, he/she makes beautiful things."

The children parents also expressed their sense of pride for seeing their kids' pieces of art displayed in the exhibition.

"Oh guests coming from the distance. Your visit is sweeter than the nights of Eid."
"A warm welcome! Had we known earlier of your visit, we would have spread flowers all over the place."

With these beautiful sing hymns, the women from Beit Al Eila welcomed the women from Shams Community Center offering them flowers.

Aiming at reviving the spirit of friendship and strengthening social bonds among people coming from different backgrounds, the Syrian Society for Social Development (SSSD), in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) organized a gathering for 30 women to celebrate the occasion of International Friendship Day.

The gathering included some singing, contests, and group games. Further, the women from Shams Center prepared and offered Tabuleh Halabia and Wark Enab, sharing its recipe with other women who loved the food.

The gathering was concluded by taking a group photo, which of women held hands to symbolize friendship and solidarity, with the hope of enjoying more upcoming gatherings.

A glimpse of the comments the women made means the world to SSSD team:
"I was so happy, I felt I was close to others and there is still goodness among people."
"Jazakum Allah Khair. On your joyful days, I will be there for you."
"You revived the old good days we have been missing. I hope you would organize more gatherings."

Aiming at increasing the educational and general knowledge of children, the Syrian Society for Social Development conducted an activity about water pollution, in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, at Amal Community Center in Al Fardos Neighborhood, Aleppo City.
The activity included some handicrafts manifesting the water pollution problem in a miniature and realistic way, encouraging children to propose solutions.

"When I grow old, I want to be an environmental engineer, so that I keep nature and water free of pollutants and thus the world would be sustainable," one child enthusiastically said toward the end of the activity.

"We no longer smile. Why are we denied of playing? "Is it our fault?" One child exclaimed, during conducting needs assessment in the collective shelters, in response to the force majeure in Al Hasakah Governorate, which of the inhabitants of Ras Al Ain, Al Dirbassiyeh and Abu Rasin had to flee their homes.

The team attached to the Syrian Society for Social Development conducted an activity for kids titled "We Came to this Place for Playing" covering group dances, hymns, and movement contests.
"You brought our laughter back. We had been ripped off of our happiness because of the war," one child happily said.

In response to the force majeure in Al Hasakah Governorate, which of the inhabitants of Ras Al Ain, Al Dirbassiyeh, and Abu Rasin had to flee their homes, the team attached to the Syrian Society for Social Development conducted an activity for children, covering dances and puppet theatre.

As the title of the activity suggests "I am Clean and will Remain Clean till the End of the Day", the team worked on raising the awareness level of kids toward personal hygiene and keeping places clean.

Nothing is more refreshing than reading the kids' comments:
"Since I came in here, I have been longing for so many things. You revived my memory today."
"I was so happy today, the clown's performance made my day."

In response to the force majeure in Al Hasakah Governorate, which of the inhabitants of Ras Al Ain, Al Dirbassiyeh, and Abu Rasin had to flee their homes, the team attached to the Syrian Society for Social Development conducted an activity for women titled "I am Clean and will Remain Clean till the End of the Day". The activity aimed at raising the awareness level of the women about personal hygiene and keeping places clean through encouraging discussions and forming work groups to come up with proposals and solutions.

One woman said, "This session was what we really needed, especially that there are some people who neglect cleanliness. Today everyone knows how important it is to pay attention to cleanliness to protect ourselves and our children from catching diseases."