Fatima: “I Wouldn’t Have Survived without Help“; Millions of Starving Syrians Fleeing Abroad

However, the situation in Syria is not improving even after two and half years of the conflict. “Our team in Aleppo has observed an outflow of people from the city. Allegedly, they fear revenge attack of the Assad’s regime in the territories held by the opposition forces that could follow the United State’s military intervention,” Jitka Škovránková, PIN Desk Officer for Syria says. “People are fleeing across the battle front to safer neighbourhoods, moving from the regime-governed areas to the districts controlled by the opposition and vice versa, depending on where the fighting is taking place at the moment, and where they can find food or work,“ Jitka Škovránková explains, while adding that every day a number of people lose their lives when crossing the front line.

Across the border, mainly in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq, over two million Syrian refugees have been officially registered. 1.8 million have fled the country in the last year, while the number keeps increasing by an average of 5,000 every day. More than half of the refugees are below the age of 17 and another 4.25 million internally displaced persons are still in the country. The UN consider it the worst humanitarian catastrophe since the 1994 Rwanda crisis.

Having escaped heavily bombed Alutaibah, Seham Ahmed al-Shaab is now living in the district of Taftanz in Idlib with three disabled children.  “Our flat has been destroyed. We are living in an abandoned flat as though we were living in prison. My husband is missing. People told me he’d been hit in his head and is told to be dead, “ Seham says. “The people here have received us well and are helping us,“ adds Seham, who has received a food kit from People in Need as well as some financial grant.

Without food aid, neither I nor my family would have survived

Apart from the rapidly shifting front lines, people are mostly affected by soaring prices of food and other goods that are increasing by tens of percent every month. “While in June, a kilo of rice in Aleppo cost on average 100 Syrian pounds (0.60 EUR), in July you had to pay as much as 175 Syrian pounds (1 EUR),” Jitka Škovránková explains. According to her, the same goes for lentils, sugar, oil, and pasta, for instance. The increase in food prices is caused by volatile security situation, declining industry, lack of resources, and depreciation of Syrian pound as well as roadblocks, damaged transport sector, and skyrocketing petrol prices.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the food situation is to deteriorate even further as the conflict has caused a decrease in wheat production by 40 percent, compared to previous years. They state that already today the price of wheat flour is twice as high as in 2011. FAO reports that over 4 million people are in want of food, and further rise in prices will affect mainly internally displaced persons, children, seniors, chronically ill, small farmers, seasonal workers, the urban poor, and pregnant and nursing mothers. According to the UN, nearly seven million people are in acute need of humanitarian aid.

Fatima from Aleppo has also experienced lack of food: “My family situation is very bad. I don’t have a husband who could help me financially. My disabled mother is lying right next to us. Without the aid that I receive, neither me nor my family would have survived,” Fatima claims.

PIN supports new schools and local governments

Even in this complexity, People In Need continues with their programmes. Idlib is encountering an alarming situation, facing an influx of about 40,000 newly-arriving internally displaced people every week. Thanks to the funding from the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Alliance 2015 partner organizations Concern and Welthungerhilfe, 2,550 families receive bread rations on a daily basis.

“Every day we bake bread from 2.5 tons of flour and supply bakeries with fuel. Furthermore, we distribute flour to families in 23 villages,” Jitka Škovránková explains, adding that additional thousands of families receive food kits and cash grants to buy essential food items. Moreover, four health centres have received one thousand packages with vitamins A, D, and E vitamins, and folic acid for pregnant women.

With the proceeds from the SOS Syria public fundraising campaign, People in Need also supports two schools with more than 700 pupils, who will embark on a new school year this Sunday. All children have received schoolbags with school supplies; we also back their teachers financially, provide fuel for generators and supply the schools with further equipment, Jitka Škovránková expounds. Recently, we have also become engaged in waste removal. “A team of fifteen people removes waste from Sarmada and six surrounding villages, thus helping 57 thousand people in total,“ Jitka Škovránková says.



In Aleppo, PIN is supporting 14 schools attended altogether by about 6,400 children, while having helped to repair twelve schools. Apart from providing school kits, grants for teachers, generator fuel, or school supplies, People In Need also organizes leisure activities for children such as drawing, singing, handicrafts, or drama classes.

What’s more, PIN has also started supporting self-governments. “In Aleppo, we are developing capacities for five local governments, focusing mainly on their humanitarian and health-care divisions. We have started training them in IT, Excel, budgeting and reporting as well as assessing people’s needs,“ Jitka Škovránková describes. “In October, local governments will submit their project proposals out of which we will choose the best ones and support them by up to 10,000-euro grants,“ she concludes.

Moreover, People in Need is continuously supplying the country with food aid and material assistance, reaching over 30 thousand people each month.

PIN in Syria

While helping the victims of the conflict in Syria, People in Need focuses mainly on emergency food, material, and health-care relief. With permanent offices and teams in the Aleppo and Idlib Governorates, it ranks among the largest aid provider in the country. Until the end of the last year, it had also assisted the refugees in Jordan and Iraq. The Czechs have supported Syria with over 5 million Czech crowns donated in the SOS Syria public fundraising campaign. Further 5 million Czech crowns have been released from the People in Need Club of Friends Relief Fund. An equally significant share has been provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, partner non-governmental organizations within Alliance 2015 – Welthungerhilfe and Concern as well as the Vodafone Foundation. People in Need has helped nearly 300 thousand Syrians affected by war. You can read more about the PIN’s aid in Syria here.

For further information, please contact Jitka Škovránková, PIN Desk Officer for Syria, +420 777 787 934, Jitka.Skovrankova@clovekvtisni.cz