Delivering hope to Syrian refugees in Lebanon this Christmas
November 11 2016A major CWU Humanitarian Aid effort to alleviate the desperate plight of thousands of the innocent victims of Syria’s bloody civil war is now entering its final stages.
Following on from a massive consignment of medical supplies that CWUHA sent to the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo in February, the union’s charity is playing a key role in a multi-agency mercy mission to ease the suffering of families who’ve fled their homes in search of safety but not joined the exodus of refugees leaving the country altogether.
With an estimated 6.5 million displaced people in Syria itself, the joint-charity initiative in which CWUHA has participated is on course to deliver a massive consignment of aid direct to those who need it most just before Christmas.
The aid includes not just the essentials of life – including food, medical supplies and warm clothing for people who are often living outdoors, sheltered only by tents and makeshift shacks – but also psychologically important messages of hope and solidarity for youngsters who’ve often been exposed to untold horror in their war-torn childhoods.
Heeding a specific request from aid workers on the ground, CWUHA is sending in excess of 5,000 teddy bears, each wearing, in Paddington Bear-style, a note round its neck bearing a message of solidarity from a UK child to the young refugee recipient.
In conjunction with Liverpool-based charity MerseyAid, CWUHA has already despatched one 40-ft container cram-packed with desperately needed aid. That container left the charity’s Syrian Refugee Appeal Leyland depot in Leyland last weekend and it is now in transit to Syria where it will be distributed by UK-based charity, Muslims In Need.
Next Saturday (November 26) a second container load will follow – with both shipments of aid destined to have been delivered to displaced families and the medics attempting to care for them by early to mid December.
The despatch of that second container load – which again is being transported distributed by Muslims In Need – will bring to a close a marathon aid collection and sorting initiative by an army of CWUHA volunteers – aided by North West CWU branches, various mosque and church groups and a school in Formby.
For more than a month including non-perishable food, medical supplies, warm clothing, toiletries, blankets and essential baby items has been pouring into a warehouse in Leyland that has been loaned to CWUHA by Lancashire County Council, providing the charity with an invaluable collection and storage point for this and future mercy missions.
Overwhelming response
CWUHA head of admin Heather Park admits she’s been “overwhelmed” by not just the response of seasoned CWUHA supporters but also the Muslim community in Preston where local mosques have organised hugely successful aid collections.
Using cash donations, Heather has purchased bought two tonnes of rice and 430 five-litre bottles of oil. The food consignment, which also includes donated tinned food, salt, pasta, tinned food, chick peas and lentils has been painstakingly split into 430 family packs’ – easy to distribute boxes that will last an entire family for five weeks.
She’s also negotiated an astonishing deal with a UK-based sleeping bag manufacturer that has agreed to supply high quality sleeping bags at cost price – meaning that hundreds of donors know that their £5 donation means a homeless Syrian will be provided with some protection from freezing winter nights.
CWUHA chair Carl Webb told The Voice: “All I can say is that Heather is CWUHA’s Mrs QVC! The deals she gets are just amazing. She secured over £20,000 of medical supplies for Aleppo for just £600 in February and now she’s done it again!
“It meant that anyone who wants to donate cash knew that the money would be wisely spent on items that are desperately needed, often translating into far more than its UK value.”
CWU North West region chair and keen CWUHA volunteer Dan Lewis, concludes: “You hear there’s a million refugees across Europe – a large and wealthy geographical area – but you don’t hear so often that there’s over six times more displaced people struggling to survive in terrible conditions in war-torn Syria itself.
“The youngest always rank amongst the most vulnerable, and that’s why this appeal was so important.”
While the CWUHA’s 2016 Syrian Refugee Appeal is now drawing to a close, the charity is already gearing up for a busy programme of activities in 2017. These will include major aid convoys to children’s homes and hospitals in Moldova and Lithuania in May and September, on-going support of the Moshi School in Tanzania and probable additional mercy-missions for Syrian refugees.
- To find out more about CWUHA and the different ways in which you can get involved visit www.cwuha.org