Dorcas helps in the Middle East

Twelve million people in Syria are in dire need of humanitarian aid. The country is suffering one of the darkest periods in history. With 7.6 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) and 4 million refugees, it is the worst humanitarian disaster in the world. Millions of Syrians need help. Read how Dorcas helps.

Syria Joint Response Programme

Eleven development and relief organisations from the Netherlands, including Dorcas, have joined forces  in the Syria Joint Response programme to help the victims of the conflict in Syria. More than 300,000 people will be reached by this programme.  A combined project proposal of nearly EUR 12 million was recently approved by Lilian Ploumen, the Dutch minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation. The programme focuses on providing shelter, food, water, health, hygiene and, particularly for women and children, psycho-social support. The programme extends to the neighbouring countries Jordan and Lebanon that are also severely impacted by the situation as they have become host to more than1.8 million Syrian refugees.

Dorcas received EUR 1,222,976 for the implementation of a relief programme that will run from 1 May 2015 to 29 February 2016. 25,200 people in Idlib, Aleppo and Al-Hasakah will receive food parcels for a period of three months and 5,000 people will received medical treatment in a mobile hospital in Idlib. ‘These funds will enable us to set up new relief projects for Syrian refugees. For this we are grateful,’ said Dorcas  Disaster Management team-leader Ruben Mulder.

Dorcas in the Middle East

In Lebanon, Dorcas has been addressing the needs of the refugees with food, household goods and winterisation products such as fuel for heaters since 2013. This programme is partly financed by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and partly paid by funds and donations from people in the Netherlands. Not only Syrian but Iraqi refugees, too, are looking for a safe place to live in Lebanon, a country which already has a high level of poverty. Over the next twelve months, Dorcas will continue to support numerous refugees in Lebanon. Relief will also be provided to a small group of very vulnerable Lebanese.

The programme in Syria is coordinated from Dorcas’ offices in Lebanon. In 2014, 14,000 food parcels and a sea container filled with clothes were distributed in Syria by the local partner organisation. ‘This is how we are able to reach displaced persons who live in relatively safe areas of Syria as well as people who are trapped in active war zones,’ explained Dorcas Programme Coordinator  Liesbeth Marije Hoogland. Last year, more than 10,000 people in Homs received medical treatment in the Hospitainer, a mobile clinic partly financed by Dorcas and Cordaid.

21 May 2015