Distributing Medical in-Kind Assistance to IDPs staying in the Collective Shelters and Host Community. Responding to the force majeure in Al Hasakah Governorate and upon conducting needs assessment, the outreach volunteer team attached to the Syrian Society for Social Development (SSSD) in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) distributed medical in-kind assistance (within 48 hours) to the internally displaced people (IDPs) staying in the collective shelters and with people from the host community, and coming from the border areas with Turkey.

SSSD team targeted children with special needs and older persons in the following centers: Shams Al deen, Saad bin Abi Waqqas, Ahmad Mekhlef, and Marawan Yousef in Al Moufti and Al Salihyyeh neighborhoods.

The Protection team from UNHCR accompanied SSSD team while distributing the in-kind assistance.

In cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the team of the Syrian Society for Social Development (SSSD), al-Qamishli, conducted sessions in some Qamishli neighborhoods (Corniche and al-Tai) for women displaced from Ras al-Ain.Sessions started with an introductory activity on SSSD services.

Then the women were given the opportunity to acquaint with each other using the wool ball icebreaker. Displacement and the problems faced by the displaced were also addressed, including the consequences they suffer from, first by choosing emojis that express their current feelings. Activities included identifying women's needs for basic items, such as food, clothing, blankets, female personal hygiene items, baby milk and diapers for their children, medicines and medical supplies for the elderly, etc.

Women's needs for psychological interventions were identified, as some of them are still traumatized by the conditions of war and losses due to hostilities and frequent, successive displacements under shelling and bullets. The women expressed their distress of being totally dependent on host families, as most households received more than three families in one house. The women also suggested that their children go to the community center for emotional relief.

At the end of the activities, each woman wrote down a wish on a star and sticked up it on a cardboard, most wishes being the end of the war and return to their homes.

Early marriage is a very important issue, especially in our beloved country, where there are still many families that give away their daughters for marriage at a very young age. Reasons that drive these families to do such a thing include customs and traditions, as well as socio-economic reasons.

Therefore, SSSD, in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), implemented a campaign entitled “A Child is Raising Another”, as part of the GBV programme at Al-Hosn Community Center in Al-Hosn, Homs. The aim of this campaign was to stop the spreading of such a dangerous phenomenon.

Target groups included women, men, and adolescent boys and girls from both the local and internally displaced communities, as well as returnees.

The campaign included the active participation of adolescents of the Child Protection Club, who presented silent expressive plays in hopes of raising awareness of the negative effects of early marriage. This phenomenon is actually regarded as a form of violence against girls, due to the burdens and responsibilities they are forced to carry at an age where they are expected to play and learn, as they are neither psychologically nor physically capable of carrying such burdens and responsibilities.

Attendees reacted positively during the campaign, emphasizing the important principles that were presented. Furthermore, one of the adolescent girls said at the end of the campaign: “Our body is still too fragile to carry such responsibilities… “

One of the fathers also added: “It is unacceptable to give our children away for marriage at a young age! In my opinion, the right age for marriage is 25 years for women and 30 for men. It is just sad and wrong for a child to marry another, not to mention a child actually having to raise another!”

There has been an intense internal displacement movement to Al Hassakeh City as a result of the Turkish bombardment to the northeast border areas of Syria (Ras Al Ain and the villages attached to it, Tal Tamr, Al Dirbasiyyeh City, the outskirts of Al Malkiyyeh City and the villages attached to it, Ammouda City and the villages attached to it, Al Qamishli, Rural Al Qamishli, Al Qahtaniyyeh and the villages attached to it).

The government has designated around 52 schools as collective shelters to host internally displaced families coming from the above-mentioned areas. Those schools are not fully equipped to host the families.

SSSD team in Al Hassakeh Governorate visited 22 schools to conduct needs assessment. The needs assessments covered the school's capacity to host families, and assessment of the required tools, equipment, and fixtures to transform the schools to temporary collective shelters, which ensure the privacy of the families and individuals staying there and provides protection especially to children and females.

Electricity cables and wires throughout the shelters (including the rooms) were checked up, as well as sanitation facilities (showers, sinks, toilets, taps, privacy) and water equipment (number of water points, water tanks, piping, taps, water mixers, water heaters).

In addition to the necessary equipment/ tools to manage solid waste (garbage containers, trash collection tools)

The most pressing needs were water tanks, drinking water, blankets, mattresses, diapers, milk for infants, housewares, food supplies, clothes for all age groups, detergents, winter heaters, personal hygiene tools, and medications.

SSSD has coordinated efforts with official bodies, namely, Al Mukhtar, Head of the Municipality, the Directorate of Social Affairs and Labor, the Directorate of Education, and other administrative departments throughout the governorate to ensure a comprehensive response.
 

Approximate Number of internally displaced people in Al Hasakah governorate:
Internally displaced families: 37,763
Internally displaced individuals: 185,099

The Child Friendly Space represents a safe haven for children, where they can strengthen and restore their various abilities, reduce the stress they are exposed to, and exercise their rights _including playing and learning. The latter is accomplished following the child-centered approach, which focuses on the child, and supports his positive interaction with peers and the surrounding community.

Accordingly, the Syrian Society for Social Development (SSSD) seeks to equip a child-friendly space in every community center it opens, in recognition of children's rights and their influential role in social development.

Since SSSD adopts the approach of engaging the target community in the planning and implementation of its activities, adolescents of Bayt al-Salam Community Center in Al-Hameh, Rural Damascus, which was recently inaugurated with the support of UNHCR, shared their ideas about the design of the new Child Friendly Space. Also, they participated in the implementation of the selected murals.

Therefore, the adolescents’ participation and inclusion will contribute fostering their sense of belonging and responsibility towards the space

In response to the crisis of transport people from Mabroukeh camp to Arisheh camp, SSSD team implemented recreational activity for children in order to support them psychologically, and
Planted joy in their hearts, as a result of the psychological pressure resulting from their displacement to a new place because of the crisis in Hassakeh city,
The activity included games, songs and entertainment competition

In order to support vocational trainees in a first step towards success, the Syrian Society for Social Development—WGSS, in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA Syria), held in the city of Hama at the Arts Gallery of the Aisha School, Ibn Rushd Street, an exhibition of the outputs of vocational training: crochet, embroidery, etamine, woodworks, copperware and detergents.

The products women were specifically trained to manufacture were displayed in several “corners,” each exhibiting products that belong to a specific trade, including: dishwashing liquid, solid and liquid soap (detergent industry); some embroidered canvas using a variety of crochet stitches; wooden and copper items that feature pyrography, coloring and copper-pressing skills; and also some placemats and t-shirts featuring textile printing skills.

The exhibition was attended by 251 people of different ages who willingly shared their opinions about the exhibition: “When the word Aman (safety) is there we always expect beautiful results”; “Each piece in the exhibition tells a love story and a passion for work.”

"We were bombarded by mortar shells; staying in the camp was no longer safe, we had to move to Al Arisheh Camp in Al Hasakah" one IDP from Mabrouka Camp in Ras Al Ain said.

 As a result of the bad security conditions in Al Hasakah governorate due to the Turkish shelling on the border areas in northeast Syria, especially Ras Al Ain City, which was a target of non-stop mortar shells for the past days. The people staying in Mabrouka Camp were moved to Al Arisheh Camp in cooperation between the Syrian Society for Social Development and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 

 Al Arisheh camp team was making necessary preparations from 3.00 P.M. up till welcoming the internally displaced families at 7.00 P.M. The members of the team accompanied the new IDPs to the registration place and the designated area of the tents, offering support, as detailed: provide guidance and directions, assist in moving the luggage, assist in setting up the tents, perform first aid to injured individuals and sick people and bring them to medical points, and distribute food shares, including bread. Further, the team conducted several awareness raising activities to the new IDP children aiming at keeping them off un-covered drainage holes in Al Arisheh Camp. 

The team restlessly worked till dawn. "Jazakum Allah khair.. I am proud of the Arab chivalry and the care shown by the citizens of our governorate," one IDP from Mabrouka Camp expressed his gratitude.