| And I have to tell you what I saw ▸ |
Just a few short weeks ago, I was in Syria. I was in an area affected by years of conflict and violence to help gather photos and stories of families who were receiving food and support for their small businesses through Mercy Corps. It’s important to us to document the work we do, and to share with you stories of how your support makes a difference in lives around the world. The trip was going well during the first couple of days. After landing in Erbil, Iraq, my colleague and I drove into Syria and spent two days meeting with program participants and hearing their stories. I want to tell you about some of the people we met: We met a farmer who operates a "kitchen garden," taking only what he needs to feed himself and his family before giving the rest of his crops to neighbors in need. He was growing eggplants and peppers, and the harvest was starting to come in. We spoke with a hair stylist who had to rebuild her business from scratch after leaving everything behind to escape violent conflict, and is now more successful than ever. We visited a family who only had bulgar wheat in their kitchen cabinets, before they received an emergency food basket from Mercy Corps. 
These eggplants and peppers were grown by a farmer in Syria, who uses his crops to support both his family and neighbors who are going without.
Then, quite suddenly, the trip got cut short. During the morning of our second full day in Syria, we were told that evacuation was a possibility because of conflict escalating on the Syria-Turkey border. By the afternoon, our bags were packed. By the evening, there were protests in the streets and we could hear gunfire not far away. At dawn the next day, we were driven back to Iraq and spent the last half hour driving directly alongside the contentious Turkish border. The crossing back into Iraq is usually a quiet place, but this time it was chaos, full of people hoping to flee the conflict. As we returned from Syria, I found myself thinking about the Mercy Corps Syria team we had left behind. These team members, many of them local residents, have a special relationship with the program participants they work with. There’s a sense of camaraderie. Our teams care deeply about the communities they serve and work with through times of conflict and shortages of resources. I was able to leave, but this is their everyday reality. Their dedication to work with and support communities through crisis and conflict is nothing short of heroic. After we left Syria, some of our teams have been forced to cease operations for a time, and others are working with even more limited resources than before. Many team members had to flee the area for their own safety, along with many of our program participants. I hope that their work can start again soon, so they can continue to support communities living through conflict. And since the day we left Syria, over 160,000 civilians have fled their homes in the area where we were. According to the UN, it’s estimated that over 400,000 people will need humanitarian assistance in the coming weeks. It’s estimated that 70,000 children already have been displaced. I’ve spoken with many Syrian refugees during my travels in Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and other countries. I’ve heard from some who have started new lives and don’t want to go back, and met refugee children who don’t know of life in Syria because they left at such a young age — but know they want to go home one day. Syria is a beautiful country that’s been affected by conflict and violence for too long. My experience there last month has stayed on my mind long after I returned home. I don’t know when I will be able to return to Syria — but I want to go back to spend more time listening to the women, men and children living through these challenges and the Mercy Corps team members who are dedicated to serving them. I hope to share more of their photos and stories with you. Support like yours helps thousands of people in Syria and across the world rebuild their livelihoods, feed their families and build secure futures in the face of adversity, crisis and conflict every day. Thank you for being there for them. Sincerely, Ezra Millstein Senior Content Producer Mercy Corps
P.S. The conflict in Syria continues, and our teams are there helping families and small businesses. A gift you make today helps devastated families in the Bahamas rebuild and prepare for future storms, delivers lifesaving assistance to Syrians fleeing violence, feeds malnourished children in Somalia — and does so much more.
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