“I feel like we have known only pain and suffering in this life”

Today marks the anniversary of the outbreak of conflict in Syria. Goal, with support from the EU and other donors, is reaching hundreds of thousands in need in the country’s northwest, but much remains to be done for vulnerable families to survive the crisis.

With conflict persisting for 13 years in Syria, the situation continues to deteriorate. In Northwest Syria, ninety per cent of the region’s four-and-a-half million population needs humanitarian assistance. The already dire conditions were worsened by the earthquakes that hit the country’s north in February 2023. With support from the EU and other donors, Goal currently provides more than 51 thousand families with monthly cash-based assistance to help them access food and other basic needs.

“I know it can be difficult to believe this, but I feel like we have known only pain and suffering in this life, as my memory is burdened with the many years we have lived in displacement, uprooted and homeless,” says Um Abdal*, a 40-year-old mother of six who resides in a camp in Kelly village in Idleb, near Syria’s border with Türkiye.

“We often wonder how we managed to stay alive. It’s our unfortunate fate that this miserable life must go on despite all the deaths we have seen,” adds Hamoud, her husband.

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Long Years in Displacement

Um Abdal and Hamoud’s family are among the two million internally displaced people who are living in camps in Idleb and Northern Aleppo in Northwest Syria, having fled their homes to survive the protracted conflict.

The crisis in Syria has uprooted over 11 million people, with almost six million displaced inside the country and more than five million seeking safety beyond borders. At least 300 thousand people have been killed in the conflict.

For Um Abdal and Hamoud, life before the conflict is now a distant memory. “We used to live comfortably in a house that could accommodate us. During the holidays, we went out for picnics. We had no worries; even if I had to meet unexpected needs, I could borrow from friends. All of our neighbours were close, and we were like a family,” Hamoud remembers.

Before the outbreak of fighting, Hamoud was working as a taxi driver in central Aleppo, an ancient Syrian city that, today, lies in ruins.

“We had a good life in Aleppo. Work was stable, and our home was filled with laughter. But then, the war shattered everything. We had to leave behind our home, our memories, everything. It’s been a journey of pain and loss, one that we had never imagined we would have to endure back then,” shares Um Abdal.

Protracted Crisis Compounded by February 2023 Earthquakes

Adding to their already challenging circumstances is the responsibility of caring for their three young grandchildren. They were left orphaned after Hamoud and Um Abdal’s eldest son was killed in 2019 during an attack on the village where they had sought refuge following their initial displacement.

The family arrived at the Kelly camp after the warehouse in Northern Aleppo’s Jandires town, where they had sought shelter, was destroyed in the devastating earthquakes that struck Türkiye’s south and Syria’s north in February 2023. The earthquakes impacted more than 15 million people.

“Now, my wife, all these children, and I live in this small block (house) made of bricks. Imagine, with ten people, we have five mattresses to share and ten flimsy blankets to keep us warm,” explains Hamoud.

“There aren’t enough shoes for the children. They share shoes as needed when going out. There’s no school for them to attend. Each year, we buy one set of clothes for the oldest child from a secondhand store. I try my best to make it last because it will be passed down to all the other kids,” Um Abdal adds.

A Profound Lack of Basic Services

After settling in the camp, Hamoud searched for informal work to provide for his family. However, no income opportunities were available. “In a desperate attempt to make ends meet, I set out on a motorbike packed with bags of biscuits and chips, hoping to sell them in neighbouring camps. However, the harsh truth soon became evident as I traversed the dusty pathways between the tents and makeshift shelter blocks. Not a single item found a buyer,” he says.

“This area, the outskirts of Kelly Mountain, is dotted with camps now, hosting tens of thousands displaced by the conflict and disasters. But the entire region suffers from a profound lack of basic services. There are no schools, hospitals, or pharmacies in sight. If you need anything, you must trek at least five kilometers to reach the nearest town,” continues Hamoud. “We’re left to fend for ourselves amid uncertainty,” he adds.

Goal and the EU’s Humanitarian Support

Thanks to the support provided by the EU and other generous donors, Goal is currently reaching over 51 thousand families in Northwest Syria with monthly cash-based assistance they can use to purchase food and meet other essential needs. Families like Hamoud’s.

“Recently, we have received cash aid from Goal. This felt like a feast to us. We bought sugar, lentils, bulgur wheat and oil – certainly vegetable oil, not olive oil; we haven’t tasted olive oil in over five years.

“We also bought some foodstuffs we hadn’t seen in a while, like eggs. My wife even made a big meal for the children,” says Hamoud.

Like many other parents in Northwest Syria, Hamoud has become accustomed to skipping meals, yet he knows how important it is for children to access nutritious food. “In the morning, as soon as the children open their eyes, they ask for food. Children do not know about money, income, or things like that. They just know of need,” he shares.

Ten-year-old Leila, the oldest of Hamoud’s grandchildren, shares her grandfather’s worries, having grown up in displacement. “When I was young, my grandmother took me to school. I learned how to write my name, and I remember that the school was something beautiful. Now, I can only memorise the pathways of the camp, but I’m not upset as long as I’m able to look after my siblings. I don’t want anything from the world except being able to make sure they can have food,” she says.

About EU Humanitarian Aid: The European Union and its Member States are among the world’s leading donors of humanitarian aid. Through the Directorate General for European Civil

Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations of the European Commission, the European Union helps millions of victims of conflict and disasters every year. Learn more at civil-protection-humanitarian-aid.ec.europa.eu.

Goal teams have been working on the ground in Syria for over ten years, supporting vulnerable communities since the conflict began in 2012. Visit goal.ie/syria to learn more.

* The names of the individuals featured in this story were changed to protect their identity.