Christian Aid’s Syria Crisis Appeal has raised over £3 million since it was launched. The relief and development agency is working with Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Iraq, providing support to some of the most vulnerable refugees including women who have experienced gender-based violence, and those with disabilities.
Christian Aid is a member of the ACT Alliance, a coalition of 100 churches and church-related organisations working together in humanitarian assistance and development with 30,000 people working in 125 countries and a combined annual budget of more than £1 billion.
The Christian Aid website details how they have:
- helped refugees in Lebanon with disabilities (who experience marginalisation and discrimination within Lebanese society) through the Lebanese Physically Handicapped Union (LPHU);
- worked through Kafa to serve some of the most vulnerable Syrian women and girls facing sexual and gender-based violence in Lebanese society, providing women and girls with counselling, awareness raising, drama, music, art and dance therapy at their centres in the Bekaa Valley;
- providing refugee families with fuel for heating during winter months through Association Najdeh in Lebanon as well as working with women and children suffering from the psychological effects of their experiences in Syria;
- enabling Syrian refugee children (many of whom cannot access state school system due to overcrowding and demand for places) to continue their education while in Lebanon through partner Mouvement Social;
- providing legal, social and psychological support to Syrian refugee women in Iraq through Asuda in a centre which acts as a safe place for women to meet and talk;
working through REACH with some of the most vulnerable refugee communities who are living in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, many of whom have no access to healthcare and other basic services, including adequate sanitation facilities.
Photos: Christian Aid
