WE URGENTLY NEED YOUR HELP
The extreme human suffering endured by the people of Syria has touched us all. For this reason, Aid to the Church in Need is committed to helping the people of Syria, in particular the Christians who are often overlooked in the international aid process.

Working with local Church partners, Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need is providing vital assistance to 2,000 displaced families in the Valley of the Christians, a series of rural communities outside the city of Homs.

Darin Abboud, a widowed mother of five girls, said: “We have received a lot of help from our neighbours and relatives but, without the financial support of the Church, I don’t know what would have become of me and my daughters.”

She added: “This aid revived our faith and hope. The Church was right there for us.”

Mrs Abboud, 38, said she struggles to support her family, doing jobs such as hair-dressing and harvesting fruit and vegetables.

Here are some recent stasts from the Damascus Maronite Archbishop Samir NASSAR:

• 600 000 dead with only some buried in dignity, and many others in collective graves. All this has meant that many families live in perpetual sorrow and emotional instability.  

• 200 000 have disappeared, including 2 Bishops and 4 priests ; this has made life a nightmare for those who grieve for their loved ones – parents, friends, and the Churches who have no news of them.

• 13 000 000 refugees - a very heavy burden as a consequence of this world war game on the Syrian territory … whole populations who suffer in silence and despair.  Bitterness and a loss of meaning to life...A broken people, scattered and searching for a future.

• 95 000 hands cut off, feet amputated or paralyzed in a country which is ill prepared to handle these sort of problems alone and the subsequent psychological and health consequences.

• 2 500 000 dwellings demolished or destroyed. All these ruined buildings block the return of refugees and emphasize the need to deal with the housing crisis. This is all without counting whole industrial zones flattened and the damage done to the basic infrastructures.