Reason #1: The remarkable people of Syria

Tuesday 15 March marks five years since the start of Syria’s brutal war. Let’s join together this week to counter despair and bring back some much-needed hope for Syria.

‘Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.’ (1 Corinthians 13:7)

‘There were two big bombs one day. A lot of houses and shops were destroyed. The next day, I went there and saw people cleaning, repairing their shops and houses. In another place there was a bomb, all the glass of the café windows was broken, but the next day it was fixed up and the cafés were open again!’ This was reported by one of our partners in Aleppo.

Grateful for small things, resourceful, ready to get back up and keep going – these are some of the qualities we see in so many of the Syrians we work with.

Take elderly couple Issan and Ali. They used to have a two-storey house with 12 rooms, but now share a single tarpaulin-walled room with their two grandchildren, whose parents were lost in the war.

Far from grumbling, Issan repeatedly thanks God. ‘We have this tent, which is more than we can ask for, at least in all the situation we are going through,’ she says. ‘We keep dreaming. And when the food packages are delivered, we party!’

The deep love the family have for one another is evident. Ali tells us proudly that he’s been married to his wife for almost 40 years – ‘She is my queen!’ he says. Issan says of her grandchildren, ‘I pray for them to have very high standards and morals, to be good people. This is the most important thing: to be good people.’