Bassil Mssedy, a dedicated father in his 50s, worked as a blacksmith for 15 years in the industrial city of Aleppo. Unfortunately, the aftermath of the war made him jobless. The industrial area, once thriving, now lay in ruins.

Bassil and his wife used to reside in a rented house in Al Midan, an area that was heavily bombarded during the war. Tragedy struck one fateful day when a missile destroyed their home. Miraculously, they had left the house just an hour prior, escaping unharmed. Although relieved that their lives were spared, their house suffered significant damage, so they had to move in with their parents in 2014.

Despite their challenging circumstance and unemployment, Bassil managed to secure a position as a church keeper, working part-time. However, his income was barely sufficient to support his family. His wife worked at the airport to help her husband. Unfortunately, she also battled diabetes, adding further strain to their finances due to medical expenses.

Ensuring their basic needs became a daily challenge, as putting food on the table proved to be a constant struggle. They heavily relied on food baskets and cash aids to make ends meet. 

In the depths of despair, Bassil was filled with hope when he received assistance from the Hope Center. With the new taxi he received, he was able to increase his resilience and income, which brought stability to his life.

Aziz is a determined young man, recently married to Rasha and waiting for their first born child.

He worked as a driver since 2009 and continued working in this job during his ten-years military service in Damascus, Rasha works as a nurse in a hospital and they live in a modest rented house. 

During his service aziz was injured in the leg then he was discharged and he started looking for a job to secure his life and future. His parents decided to travel and leave the country but Aziz decided to stay and he started looking for a job to secure his life; he started working night shifts at a beverage shop in a local neighborhood but the salary was low and the job included many troubles so he kept his faith and determined to search for a solution to enhance his situation. 

After getting married, Aziz responsibilities got bigger and he found the micro program as the best opportunity to get back to his original career as a driver, with the support he got the taxi and he can now improve his income and provide a good life for his wife and awaited child. 

Antoine had a good life before the war working as a hairdresser with great skill and many customers, in 2013 he was called for military service and had to serve for nine long years in Aleppo's suburbs which affected his health greatly as he was subject to many injuries from explosions.

Antoine suffered from a neurological condition that caused trembling in his hands and he no longer was able to continue in his original career of hairstyling, even grabbing the scissors became the most difficult task for him.

However, he didn't surrender and was determined to find a way to secure his livelihood especially that he is the breadwinner of the household that he shares with his parents and he looks after them; the family had to sell their house in Midan area after the brother was called to service so they can afford the increasing livelihood expenses.

He started working in a blacksmithing workshop but the income was insufficient and it demanded a lot of physical effort. With the support of the Micro Projects program, Antoine got a taxi that would help him make a better living and at the same time it is the most suitable job for his health condition, hopefully it will be the start of a better days to come for him and his loved ones. 

Antoine is 28 years old, married and a father of a 1 year old lovely boy, he has served in the military for almost the last ten years of his life which has robbed him of any opportunity to pursue a career and build a future for his family.

with no experience and a very harsh economic situation of the country, Antoine put a lot of thinking of his next step in life, he looked for any job that would help him provide a decent life for his wife and newborn son, he started working in a soap factory but the salary is very low and not sufficient to make ends meet. 

The earthquake had a huge impact on this family, they lived in fear and were affected by the damages, the church helped them and continues to deliver a small monthly aid, unfortunately the situation is deteriorating with the inflation and the increasing living costs. 

Antoine found hope in the Micro Projects program when he applied for a taxi as it doesn't require a former experience and at the same time he can work long hours and make a better income to improve the livelihood of his loved ones. 

Elias Akhras lives with his parents in a modest house, his father is retired, making him the only one working and providing an income for his family’s expenses.

He used to work in sculpting statues and decorating with his father at a young age, then switched job to rubber molding in their shop near Al-kindi hospital. Things were working great in his life until the war occurred, making him lose all his possessions from work equipment to properties. 

Elias was devastated and decided to emigrate to start over in a new place, but he eventually came back to look over his elderly parents. He bought the basic equipment to get back on track but couldn’t afford much as the molds price were too expensive for his budget. That’s what made him stop working for a while.

Elias thought that his dream to improve his work and grow bigger in his project was nearly impossible until he heard about the Micro-projects. Now, with the help of Hope center, his dream came true and can finally achieve his goals.

Abd ALmasih lives in a rented house with his wife and three kids in Telephone Hawaii area, working as a minibus driver at Al-Farah school with the help of his wife. His elder son works as a salesman in a clothing shop to provide his educational expenses. In addition to that, Abd Almasih helps out some elderly people by delivering things to them in order to keep up with his family’s expenses in the middle of this economic crises.

He used to work as a Jeweler, but during war, life took another turn as he got injured by many shrapnel due to an explosion of a nearby bombing and had to take time to heal and rest to get better. That’s when he got frustrated and it made him lose hope. He tried working on a rented taxi afterwards but couldn’t carry on as the car’s rent price got increased.

When all the doors were closed and it felt like there was nothing he could’ve done, a glimpse of hope appeared as he heard about the micro projects. Now thanks to Hope center Abd Almasih has the Taxi and he can work in the afternoons and increase his income, providing a better life for his family.

Art has always played a huge role in Rakel’s life who is a gifted young lady that took her talent further by pursuing her passion and studying fine arts.

Rakel lives with her parents, sister and nephew, the father is a blacksmith, the mother is a housewife, her sister is a widow working as a hairdresser in a borrowed shop. The main source of income for the house is from the work of the father and sister.

She used to work in teaching drawing and psychological support fields. Currently, she is a trainee in the field of design and decoration at a contracting company. 

The concept of ​​her project is to make gifts by drawing on objects (plates - cups - cups...)Recently, she experimented with the mechanism of work by manufacturing and selling some product which resulted her understanding the market’s need and she identified the targeted group, in addition to creating a page on social media to display her products and there was a good demand for them; She will work at home and distribute items to gift shops.

With the help of the hope center the talented Rakel has become stronger, more confident and more capable of receiving big orders and help her family with taking care of the living expenses.

For Youssef, being a good provider is one of his goals, and he considers it a big achievement.

Living in a small house which consists of two rooms with 6 people is not easy specially with the increasing expenses.

His two brothers are both still students, his sister works in a clothes shop and his mother newly started working and his father was his supporter, but because of his illness he couldn’t work anymore.

"During my seven years in the work of sand blasting, I decided to travel to Lebanon in 2018 to work, using all my experience that I gained from my relative in Safita, then I served to the military for more than three years."

After being discharged from the military service, he started working on his career but with a low income, so he wanted to start his own business because his salary was barely enough for basic livelihood demands.

Now that Youssef bought the essential equipment thanks to this initiative, he will be able to improve his income and secure a better life for his lovely family.

 Shkri lives with his wife, two sons and his daughter. His wife works as a cook at Olacc, his daughter is a part-time teacher at the same place and his two sons are high school students.

During the war the family house got damaged, but the poor financial situation didn’t allow him to restore it so Olacc gave him a hand with restoring part of the damage.

Shkri has been a taxi driver since 1998. In 2018 he became an employee at the Karen Jeppe Armenian Collage and on Sundays he works as a driver for Yarmouk Club.

Finally, Shkri’s dream came true and he is now over the moon however, he will remain in his morning job and in the evening he will work on the taxi. Besides the fact that the taxi was his dream, his income became so much better and he can provide a good livelihood for his lovely family.

The skills and experience you gain from traveling abroad can give you life-long personal benefits as well as an advantage in the professional world.

Garabet,68-year-old man, father of two daughters, traveled to Canada in 1986 for more than 7 years where he worked in the same field on the brake lathing machine and then returned to Aleppo after gaining great experience.

He said: “travelling abroad is an amazing way to learn a lot of new things”. Before the war, he had his own rented factory with his partner in addition to owning all the necessary machines. Everything was going well before the war started, and he was the main provider for his family.

After losing all his machines, Garabet did not give up despite his 40 years of experience in his career. Day after day, the financial burdens were getting heavier and he did his best to guarantee his family a good life.

Now, Garabet is working in his workshop but still needs the lathing machine. This new machine will greatly develop his work and encourage him to accept bigger opportunities and, thus, increase his income.

Ghassan 55 years old has been working as a carpenter for more than 40 years, he learned this profession and worked in many workshops for more than twenty years, then he decided to become independent and work separately between homes and workshops upon request.

Today, Ghassan is the father of two sons who live in his grandmother’s house, after the loss of their own home, which he bought in 2012. As a result, the family moved to the city of Homs for 4 years to start over. He worked there again with his profession, and he was able to buy new equipment after his old equipment were stolen. 

Currently, his wife helps him with the daily expenses through her work as a teacher in a private school, and he works between homes and workshops, where his specialty is detailing bedrooms and upholstering chairs with primitive carpentry tools.

Ghassan now has a chance of a new start with the new equipment that helps him save time, effort, and expenses.

Katia is married with two kids; she loves to take care of her family and pamper them along with prioritizing time for her hobbies and her work.

Katia discovered her passion which was making pastries and sweets, she took a course from a professional chef to gain more knowledge in her specialization.

She started evolving slowly, and her first few orders were from her close friends and her relatives, everyone who tried her sweets and pastries encouraged her to keep up her good work and take it a step forward, Katia chose to work at home just so she’ll be next to her family and take care of them.

Later on, She got well-known and decided to participate in exhibitions to increase her income along with marketing purposes. Katia had some primitive tools that helped her so far but now that she has many more clients it requires her to renew and expand the equipment.

Hope Center’s fund helped to turn her dreams into a reality, and now that she has all the essential tools, she’ll be able to gain more orders confidently and help her husband with their family’s livelihood expenses.

Although Abdullah Ajam is entering his seventies, he still has the strength of a young man ready to defy all life difficulties. He is originally from Aleppo but moved with his family to Jaramana, Damascus 20 years ago. Before the war in Syria, he worked at a goldsmith workshop but his profession deteriorated with the first months of the crisis. Abdullah stayed unemployed for about a year, but he was not willing to stay at home and wait for support from his sons.

He managed to borrow some money and started his own spices store and named it (Aleppo’s Supplies) and got special spices and goods from Aleppo to become the first of its kind in the area, people loved buying from this store. Abdullah became once again a supporter of his family and restored his independence, then he began to help the Latin church with the relief program of supporting other families. 

However, the past three years were very tough on all Syrians; with the worsening of the economic situation, Abdullah became unable to refill all the goods in his shop and was nearly broke.

By helping Abdullah, the store will continue its success, and the whole family will have the stability of livelihood thanks to the determination of this self-made man.

In 2011, after turning seventeen, and instead of starting the journey of establishing his future life, Majd Aldhaim found himself facing a devastating war and terrible living conditions.

Majd was born in 1994, he lived along with his family in their old house in Al Dwalaa area. He had to drop out of university because he was called for military service where he faced many dangers and survived several accidents, those tough days affected his health situation and he started to suffer damage in the Sciatic nerve and became unable to walk without crutches, as a result, he was discharged from the military service.

Majd found himself at a young age, disabled, with no university education or a profession, with heavy responsibilities.

However, he did not get frustrated or hopeless, on the contrary, he started to work at his brother’s store for mobiles maintenance and gained good experience in this field. The two brothers worked and shared the house expenses and their parents’ medication costs, but the deteriorated economic situation in the country put big financial pressure on them and hindered any improvement in their business, thus their equipment became outdated and unsuitable for work.

Throughout the Micro project initiative, Majd was supported with the proper tools and materials to strengthen his work and ensure better livelihood for the family.

Within the past ten years, most people have been subjected to great injustice. The life of an entire generation has been stolen. Elias Alshaer is one of those young people whose life was greatly affected by the crisis in Syria; deprived of childhood, proper education and simplest living aspects.

In 2011, Elias and his family were living in the village of al-Qusayr in the countryside of Homs, but with the outbreak of the war in Syria, their house was destroyed and looted, and they had to flee to Jaramana, in the countryside of Damascus. This young man was forced to drop out of university and work in a restaurant to help support the family who lost all their properties and belongings. They all had to start from scratch in a new place and with very tight financial conditions.

These hardships did not weaken Elias' will, he continued to work day and night to make ends meet. However, in the year 2017 he was at a crossroads, obliged to leave Syria for a while. His residence in Lebanon turned to become an advantage when he gained extensive experience in the field of beverages and sweets catering industry. He also attended several courses in the same domain.

When it was time to head back home in 2019, Elias returned to Syria with his mind set on his career of choice and the aspects that he still needs to strengthen in order to become an independent individual. Without any hesitation, once he settled back, he took a job in accounting to make an income and pay for his parents’ medication, and at the same time to learn more about handling the financials of running a business.

Elias is one of the strong-minded young men who, despite the harsh circumstances of war, displacement and losses, did not despair but continued with his great ambition and hope to create his own conditions and make a difference in his life by opening his sweets and beverages shop in his country and stay with his family and loved ones.

It is always inspiring to see how much determination and hope a person has to face problems and defy them no matter how difficult they are, like Jalal Ghamika, 35 years old, who despite all the misfortunes in his life, still has a smile on his face against all the hardships.

Jalal was living with his family safely in the city of Homs, but with the outbreak of war in Syria, the city was directly affected, they fled to Damascus, where they settled in Jaramana, and they were informed that their house in Homs had been completely looted. That terrible incident affected his father's health a lot and gradually led to his passing in 2012.

Jalal found himself alone facing big responsibility, he worked day and night to support his family, but the income was very low, so in 2016 he traveled to Lebanon hoping to improve his financial situation. He worked there as a chef in a restaurant until 2019 when he began to suffer from Osteomyelitis, so he had to return and be treated in Syria, and at the same time period, his mother was diagnosed with cancer and needed surgery to remove the tumor then chemotherapy.

Despite his illness, Jalal began working at home with the help of his sisters in making oriental food and delivering orders to houses. He was responsible for his mother, his two sisters, and their children, his recruited brother, and the younger brother who is still a student, and yet he did not surrender or become overwhelmed because he had strong faith that always pushed him to work and hope for a better tomorrow.

Indeed, through the Micro project’s program, Jalal was supported to start his small shop, in which he and his sisters will work and support each other through life challenges.

No matter how hard life gets, God's great mercy won't leave us alone and sends compassionate people on our way.

That’s what Jaklin Hoda experienced in her life, especially after the death of her husband in 2014, leaving her alone with three kids during the toughest time of the Syrian crisis.

Jaklin suddenly found herself alone with no supporters, she felt that her future was grim, she began her struggling journey in raising her children and educating them. However, she gathered her strength and counted on herself to start her own Mini market in a modest alley in Jaramana, so she won’t need to ask for anyone’s help. 

Three years after the tragedy, Jaklin was able to pay off all the previous debts and succeeded to secure a good life for her three children, through her small shop. With her integrity and honesty, she acquired the sellers' trust, and she began to help all the needy families in the neighborhood and give them purchases on credit.

The hand of God was supporting Jaklin in her difficult journey, and she could not believe that her small shop had protected her from need and poverty and contributed to raising and educating her children.

She kept fighting against all the difficulties, but the past three years were very hard on everyone; she became unable to afford all the living expenses and support her shop with goods at the same time. Her shop was about to shut down when she heard about the Micro project program, which gave her the required support to continue her journey in life. 

life is sometimes unfair to many people, and in many cases, it overflows them with many burdens leaving them weak and in pain. The 50-year-old Lina Hanna, whose tragedies began 17 years ago when her husband and her brother had a violent quarrel that ended with her brother's death and her husband's imprisonment, leaving her distressed, heartbroken, and depressed with no supporter for her three little girls.

Lina had no time to grieve her loss, as she became the sole responsible for her young daughters, she had to put her sorrows aside and hold on. Indeed, this great mother worked day and night to raise and educate her children, secure life necessities for them, and at the same time compensate for the absence of their father and give them a sense of security and safety.

A few years after the incident, her financial situation started to improve when she was working as a salesperson at a detergent company in Ain Tarma. Unfortunately, in 2011 the Syrian crisis started and Ain Tarma was from the first areas that were destroyed leaving Lina unemployed, living with the help of her friends and relatives.

However, the war and its horrors didn’t stop this iron lady from working and supporting her family, she took a small loan and started her own perfume and gifts shop. But the Covid and the quarantine affected her work and caused many losses.

When a door closes, life always opens you a window. Lina lived her whole life fighting with no help so it was our turn to stand by this determined woman and support her to retain her independence and dignity.  

Siham Alsheikh, a 22-year-old woman, had a very difficult childhood after her parents separated at the age of 12, so she, her mom, and little brother had to leave their home and move to live in a small room in Bab Touma under very difficult circumstances. They had to face the horrors of war by themselves with no one to turn into. From such a young age the twelve-year-old skipped childhood and found herself battling against poverty and acute need for an income to cover the expenses of her little brother’s medical treatments.

While many people would crack under this much pressure, Siham amazingly got stronger, she was able to balance between providing for the family and proceeding with her academic studies simultaneously in two different majors one in chemistry and the other in accounting. To juggle those two university branches, Siham needed an income to pay for all the costs and tuitions, thus she invested all her savings in a camera and counted on her photography skills to make a living.

Her talents never failed her, and slowly she got booked for events and ceremonies which boosted her enthusiasm and kept her going. 

This extraordinary young woman has always been a supporter for her family and a light of hope for everyone around her, and when she needed an extra push to take her business to the next level by developing her gadgets, Hope center was there by her side in her journey to success.