| You can help families in crisis around the world ▸ |
I just talked with Max Baldwin, he’s our Northwest Syria Area Director, as our teams updated a survey of urgent needs in more than 20 displacement camps in Idlib and other areas of northwest Syria. Max shared with me devastating facts about these families on the run. Nearly 20% of families include pregnant women, and another 18% are new mothers breastfeeding infant children. Other families are caring for elderly or injured members, and many face life in the chaotic displacement camps with only a single person as their head of household. Mercy Corps team members and partners have reached more than 154,000 people in Northwest Syria since violence flared there in December 2019. Your first gift today to Mercy Corps’ Where Most Needed Fund can help families in Syria and around the globe. 
Idlib, Syria. The majority of people have been displaced several times, making this population even more vulnerable.
In the recent needs assessment, people listed shelter as one of their key concerns, Max told me, "Nearly everyone is living in a tent or some kind of shelter they made themselves. People are seeking some protection from the weather, they’re worried about makeshift shelters catching fire, and they’re very worried about their own safety in these unfamiliar, open and unsecured places." We know from our experience supporting families fleeing violence around the world that as large numbers are displaced, overpopulation in camps and makeshift communities, combined with lack of resources, puts people at greater risk. Mercy Corps teams work with refugees and displaced families in places like Uganda, Colombia and Syria to provide support including shelter supplies and household essentials, dignity kits for women, hygiene supplies and emergency cash so families can buy what they need most urgently. In Idlib and nearby areas, warming temperatures and seasonal rains have left many families navigating a sea of makeshift tents and red mud, so we are also supporting people displaced to camps, informal settlements and communities with water trucking, desludging and garbage collection to help them stay healthy. But the unpredictable violence means that people are continuously on the move and aid workers are challenged to anticipate where the greatest needs will be. (This is why we update needs assessments regularly.) I also have to share with you that 58 out of 80 Mercy Corps team members across Idlib Province are themselves displaced from their homes. Still, they continue tirelessly to bring some urgently needed relief to the communities we serve. Your support is a critically important part of our work. Mercy Corps responds in these moments of urgent crisis and works to build better lives and transform communities for good. You can be with us as we help families and communities around the world face violence, disaster, poverty and the impacts of climate change. Your gift of $10 or more today to our Where Most Needed Fund can help families you might never meet, but who deserve a stronger, more resilient future. Thank you so much for helping our teams respond to this unprecedented level of need in Syria and support families around the world. Christy Delafield Mercy Corps Director of Communications
|
 |
STAY CONNECTED | |
     |
|
|---|
|
||||||
