“The help that we are getting from the church we are happy with. We are thankful for the diapers, milk, and food box. And an education.” — Amina, mother, provider, Syrian refugee
As a mother, Amina’s heart yearns for more for her five daughters. She remembers the life they once had in Syria — a home, a farm, olive trees, and a garden. Enough to eat. And her daughters could play and go to school like any other children.
Now war has taken all that away. Their home was destroyed by bombs and with nowhere safe to go, Amina took her children to Lebanon. Here, they no longer live in a war zone but as refugees, the children are prohibited from going to regular schools. And as a family, they have known hunger.
Her three oldest daughters — ages 9, 12, and 13 — work to help support the family, sometimes as housekeepers or picking beans and peeling garlic alongside their mother. Amina knows her daughters are too young to be working, but the family is barely surviving.
Young Syrian girls in refugee camps are the most vulnerable. Conflict, poverty, and hunger force families to send their children to work. Some parents marry off their young daughters, fearing for their safety in the camps. Amina wants a better life for her daughters, but life as a refugee is a daily struggle.
But that’s where support from Canadians who care makes all the difference.
Through the partnership between World Renew and the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, Amina and her girls receive vital monthly food assistance. Without this help, Amina would not be able to meet her children’s basic nutritional needs. A local Lebanese church partner also runs an education center for refugee children so that girls like Amina’s daughters are able to continue their education despite their circumstances. “The help that we are getting… we are happy with. We are thankful for the diapers, milk, and food box. And an education,” shared Amina.
Together, World Renew and its partners are standing with the 13 million Syrians in need of humanitarian assistance, seeking to end their hunger. Today, because of the support of ordinary Canadians, refugee mothers like Amina are given the chance to dream of a better future for their children.
Tell your MP that Canadian aid is important to you — that Canadians care about our global neighbours! To learn how to email your local MP through World Renew’s partner, Canadian Foodgrains Bank, go to: https://foodgrainsbank.ca/campaigns/letters/
