Preliminary Report on Emergency Aid
To whom it may concern Damascus
20/06/2013
Distribution of emergency aid began
at the beginning of February 2012 to families displaced from the city of Zabadani
to the city of Bludan (thirty miles from Damascus.) About three hundred and fifty families were
assisted with food rations, such as sugar, rice, tea, hummus, lentils, durum
wheat, tinned meat, jam, baby food, and other supplies, such as nappies,
dishwashing liquid, soap, cleaning materials, matches and candles, etc. to the sum
of fifty US dollars or thirty pounds sterling per family.
After considerable population displacement
from Homs and Qusair cities, the Patriarchate took the initiative of creating a
central Emergency Relief Committee together with several parish sub-committees to
cater for displaced persons. Emergency aid packages, including food, foam
mattresses, cleaning materials and baby essentials were delivered to about one
hundred families.
Subsequently, the number of displaced
persons dramatically increased from three hundred to eighteen hundred families of
various denominations and religions. So far we have been able to make distributions
on about twelve consecutive occasions, thanks to donations made to the
Patriarchate through HB Patriarch Gregorios III Laham and HE Archbishop Joseph Absi,
and thanks to the efforts of generous people and competent parishioners.
Children of the Patriarchal School
made a donation of food parcels, including sugar, rice, cracked wheat and other
items.
We donated seven hundred and
fifty school bags at the beginning of the school year to families in need.
We also provided one thousand
food parcels to the besieged city of Rableh, and then three hundred food
parcels to the city of Tal Kalakh. These donations contributed to resolving disputes
and tensions among the various parties to the conflict in cities under the
aegis of the National Reconciliation Committee.
Following an agreement with the United
Nations Development Programme, we distributed six hundred packages of cleaning materials
and general health items in the Governorate of Deraa (two hundred parcels in
Deraa city, two hundred in Khabab and two hundred in Ghabagheb.) We are also in
the process of implementing the second stage of the UNDP agreement for the
distribution of mattresses, blankets, sheets, towels and kitchen utensils to
about eight hundred and fifty families.
We also donated one hundred food parcels
to people in the Sayda Zeinab region in coordination with Sheikh Fadi Burhan.
Thanks to a donation from the
Pontifical Mission, we distributed eight hundred food parcels to the districts
of Bludan and Zabadani as well as distributing two hundred and sixty food parcels
to the region of Khabab in the Archeparchy of Hauran.
Five hundred food parcels were
donated to the inhabitants of Harasta and an additional four hundred and fifty food
packages to the inhabitants of Daraya after their displacement from their homes
due to acts of violence in their respective areas.
The sum of sixty thousand dollars
in cash, equivalent to fifty dollars per household, was distributed to one
thousand two hundred families as aid from the Pope [Benedict XVI] and the Synod
of Bishops in Rome.
Assistance was also provided by
the Middle East Council of Churches in the form of two hundred and fifteen
parcels of children’s winter clothing and one hundred and sixty-five parcels of
blankets, sheets, pillows, towels etc.
We also provided medical
assistance for four hundred and fifty patients, including forty-seven surgical
operations and four hundred prescriptions worth an estimated one and a half million
Syrian pounds in the course of 2012.
The Patriarchal School has incurred
new financial burdens and will require additional assistance to meet the shortfall,
as it has lost part of its revenue due to student withdrawals. Some sixty per
cent of its one thousand three hundred and fifty students were withdrawn when
the school had to relocate from a danger area to a new site. The school will
eventually need to repair its shell-damaged premises. Overall losses are
estimated at half a million dollars.
Need is increasing due to the
prevailing conditions in the country, which requires continuous sources of funding
to be able to cope, as it is estimated that it costs about fifty thousand
dollars for every monthly distribution of food aid, in addition to other costs
such as staff salaries for administrative workers, stationery, transfer fees and
bonuses, totalling some fifteen hundred dollars a month.
Help from the Patriarchate can be
classified as food, medical treatment and prescriptions, rent support, help
with restoration of damaged homes, or assistance to families of victims and
abductees and others impoverished by the crisis.
Any person in need may fill in an
application form about him or herself and any dependent family members,
supplying details of usual place of residence, phone number, age and occupation
or studies. He or she will then be
contacted to determine a specific day for distribution. Once the Committee has
the necessary means of assistance, volunteers fill bags of available aid. We created
a warehouse and hired a secretary for the warehouse to manage the goods and
minimise wastage. A secretary manages the orders and written communications and
an accountant deals with the accounts. There is also a Purchasing Committee to
ensure that goods are bought at the best prices, as well as a team of
volunteers to visit homes of needy families to assess their situation and requirements
and ensure that they receive subsidies sufficient for their needs.
The current urgent need is for the sum of three hundred and
twenty-five thousand dollars to pay for food parcels, house rents, surgical
operations, medicines and administrative expenses.
Father
Maher Mansur