It is said that “Behind every chronic illness is just a person trying to find their way in the world.” this could not be more realistic and true for Georges, the loving husband and father who could look past his wife's chronic illness and two years long suffering and see the amazing and strong person he has always been and offer his unconditional support.

Georges had to be strong not just for his wife but Hanna their eldest son also needed his support to fight against his Also, his gastroparesis condition. 

The challenges were surrounding this small family from every corner and the war was definitely making things harder by the day. 

As if they were not struggling enough, due to the crisis in 2011, their house was affected by the bombshells and they were displaced to Al-Jdaideh village.

Later on, in 2013, after the armed groups attacked their village, they had to move once again to Damascus searching for safety, and insuring treatment for his wife.

Financially, this constant movement made things harder for Georges who used to driven a mini pick-up in a juice company for over twenty-four years for a living after losing his ability to work as a carpenter, his original family business he was practicing back at the day.

The long driving job Georges has been in for over two decades now, has shaped his career in a way or another that's why Georges wants to stay in the same domain but increase his opportunities as well as his income by purchasing a pick up truck of his own, and becoming an independent supporter of his family.

When all the doors were closed for Marks in Lebanon, the 40-years-old man came back to Aleppo after spending nine years in Lebanon, with no money and no clue on what to do next. 

Marks had worked in many fields; his career has changed many times; from working in elevators' maintenance, owning a little restaurant, working as a salesperson, to a completely different domain in traditional "zaffeh" performer at weddings.

When he had to start over, he thought about continuing in wedding entertainment business, but the war and financial situation in Syria made it an impossible idea. Nevertheless, Marks made his mind to work based on another old experience of his, by opening a small diner for local popular dishes of “foul and falafels” in the neighborhood of Bustan Albasha.

The place will be in a location surrounded with lots of workshops, and workers will find at Marks place a delicious meal and a comfortable rest during their long day of work. For Marks it will be the new start he always wished for. 

"The extraordinary man" is Fathallah’s nickname which he deserved to be called by everyone who knows him.

Fathallah suffered a lot, starting with losing his foot and three toes from the other one because of diabetes, to developing a heart disease. But despite all these obstacles, in addition to the harsh financial and war conditions, this man refused to give up on working and supporting his family.

When Fathallah was still a child in the fourth grade at school, he started learning about jewelry and later he started working in the jewel domain for many years, but when the crisis started, and the jewelers he used to deal with traveled abroad, he had to find another career that could ensure at least the family's primary outlays, so he worked as a hawker for about a year.

Later on, one of his friends “who traveled to Germany” offered Fathallah to use his shop in the Al-Midan area, to make and sell sandwiches, and the whole family helped out, he uses a food cart to sell the sandwiches they make in the shop on the main streets in the city so he would reach out to all people. Since 2015, he has been well-known for his homemade food which differentiate him from others. 

Fathallah's health situation forced the family to leave their home and move to a rented one which is more suitable for him on the first floor. He still requires some equipment that can develop his work and improve his income. That’s why Hope Center took inspiration from this extraordinary man, and decided to stand with him and support his project, by sharing the dream and being the glimpse of light in his life. 

Kevork, a young man who lives with his family of five members, including his grandmother and his father who works as a worker on a lathing machine. 

Unfortunately, during the crisis in Aleppo, when their house was badly destroyed by a shell, they traveled to Latakia for five years, until the situation became safer in Aleppo, they returned to live in a rented house. Kevork worked in car brakes' maintenance for 9 years, he started this career in 2013, as a worker, but due to the low salary, he chose to begin his own project using the experience he gained through all these years. 

He rented a shop in Bustan Al-Basha industrial area, now Kevork is working in car brakes' maintenance using rented equipment. He was so blessed to have a chance to improve his income and be able to help his family, through our Micro Project program towards strengthening his business, and back on track to build a more stable future.

the year 2015 was a turning point for Gerges, when their house was completely destroyed by a shell, the family of four became homeless and devastated. Despite all the excruciating circumstances which the family went through to survive, the young Gerges came out of this distress stronger and more determined to build a good and stable future for him and for his family. 

Dropping out of school maybe wasn’t Gerges’ ideal decision but the young man did what seemed to be best for him at that time, and started focusing on building a career as an electrician. It’s been six years now since he made his first career steps and during this time Gerges has learnt a lot, each workshop he worked in taught him different techniques and gave him the opportunity to explore both household and industrial electrical maintenance domains. 

Although he is considerably young, but Gerges reached a point in his career, where he is both ready and confident enough to start a business of his own. And to do so all this young technician needs is the tools and equipment that will enable him to handle bigger work tasks.

The 48 years-old Fares, is an ambitious person and wants to do his best, no matter what difficulties come in his way. His dream was to own a mini pick-up truck to work on in addition to his regular job at the university hospital.

Fares's previous working experiences were diverse, He used to work in laundry and ironing services, then in electrical maintenance and in 2011 he started to work in a hospital.

The war years were hard on fares and his family, the thing that breaks his heart the most is the psychological trauma his son had been through because of all the horrific shell attacks around their house.  

When he was serving in the military, Fares had a military driver's license, but this license wouldn't allow him to drive in the civilian areas, that's why when he started considering having his own pickup truck, he went and got a driver's license to get the car.

He wants the mini pick-up truck to move the goods, and this work will help him to increase his income as he can use it in his current job and work on it later too, and this is a new chance to depend on himself as a provider for his family.

Osama, 52 years old, is the father of Yana and Hanna. He started working as an employee in the designing field since 1997, where he had good experience designing clothes-prints, medicine packages, and some other things.

later in 2002, he was able to buy an office and start his own business, but all businesses declined in this period and the factories he was dealing with were closed. So, he became an employee again in a designing company with a low salary. During the war period, Osama's life was not easy. The family suffered displacement and moved into 7 different houses over those years, escaping from shelling.

The shells hit their house several times. In addition, their car was badly damaged, which forced him to sell it at a very low price. Osama always wished to have his own work as he did before, in his office, but he still needed the equipment to restart, so he applied to Hope Center for a Micro-project.

He inherited this passion for to his son Hanna, who is also training in designing programs to help his father, and develop their work together.

His dream came true, and he was blessed to have this chance to improve his life.

Year after year, the effect of the war is decimating so much of Syria. More people are struggling to find food, and fewer people have jobs. The Impact of the war directly affected people's lives, who couldn’t feel safe outside or inside their homes. We can absolutely understand how difficult it is for people to get on with their lives, look forward, without any hope of a resolution, especially youths who had to help their parents to increase the family income. 

Merry Skaf is a 20-years-old young girl, who works in distributing food baskets to the elderly for charity, she participated in several courses to learn skills about hair, makeup, and nail art, in addition to joining online courses trying to improve herself in this work domain.

Recently, she started working in a women’s salon as a makeup artist, while She still needs the nails-care equipment to expand her work and increase her customers. In 2012, they moved to latakia for one year, after their rented house was destroyed and burned, they couldn’t save anything from their belongings, so they had to start all over from scratch. When livelihood became very expensive in Latakia, they decided to return back to Aleppo, and stay at their relative house, and started searching for jobs.

Now Merry’s mother is working in the church as a cleaner, while her father works in a cars’ spare parts, and he suffers from a heart disease. One of her two brothers is in the military service, while the other is working in a barbershop.

Merry wants to help her family to increase their income, despite her young age, by working in the career she loves, and can be successful in, Hope Center helped her by purchasing nails care equipment, so she can be able to work in a women’s salon as a beauty expert.

It’s really hard for a person to start his life with a disability. That’s what happened to Johnny, who was born with a blind eye, so he had to get used to living with one eye.

2013 was really rough for this family; they lost Johnnys’ father, the family backbone when he was looking for a job, an armed group kidnapped him. The family looked for him in every possible place with no result, until they got the bad news and received his dead body.

In the same year, Johnny, with his mother and his two siblings had to leave their house in the Sheikh Maksod area because it was really dangerous during the war, and the area was attacked by armed groups. They moved to Damascus and lived at their cousins’ house there for about 6 years, before coming back to Aleppo.

Later on, Johnny was recruited to join the military for two years, when his service ended, he worked at a lathing workshop for a month, but unfortunately, he lost four of his fingers in a work accident.

Despite all these circumstances, Johnny didn't give up, he applied for a coffee shop, so he can start again, and be a productive individual. Hope Center is happy to be a part of his ambition to secure the machinery he needs, and become an independent person with a better future.

Like any traditional family, George and his wife had always helped each other to provide a decent life for their two daughters; Karni and Arkina. George is a blacksmith and his wife is a kindergarten teacher. The war resulted in the loss of the family's source of income, George left his family here in Aleppo and went to Lebanon to be able to send money to his family, who were still living the fear and horror from all the attacks and mortar shells.

Years passed in a blink of an eye, George came back to Aleppo in the beginning of 2021, but his father’s workshop that he used to run was long gone, he had no equipment and no place to start over with. But for this persistent craftsman it was crucial to re-establish the business in his hometown, that is why he kept trying to make that dream come true. 

George found a suitable property to rent and he also found some supportive people to lend him the essential machines until he can manages to purchase his own blacksmithing tools and equipment. When his project got approved, this is exactly what George invested in, he purchased all the tools he needs for a thriving and successful future business. 

Self-improvement includes nourishing other people's skills and personalities. That's how things go with teachers such as Wahid Haddad. 

Wahid, who is 28 years old, left his education early and followed his passion for playing guitar, where he grew up to master this skill, now he has become a guitar teacher in four institutes, and also giving private lessons.

In addition to teaching, Wahid used to help his father at their furnishing gallery for more than ten years, but unfortunately, after the death of his dad, he decided to sell the gallery and started working in the designing and printing domain. The heartbreaking incidents didn't just end there for the family; Wahid's only brother martyred during his service in the army. After these devastating calamities, Wahid and his mother moved out of their home, trying to escape all the memories of this place. 

Wahid gained good experience in designing and printing, he planned to begin his own project in this career, and his ambition was to get the bigger sized UV machine which would be the first one in Aleppo, but his financial resources limited him greatly. 

Since life gave him hard time, offering Wahid with this support is will give him back hope, that would be a part of the Hope Center mission to help him purchase the needed equipment and establish his own business.

Anna’s journey in the sweets industry started in 2017 - Venezuela, but how she got there is a whole other story. 

Anna had just had her second daughter Gabriella when the war started in Syria, she had some of her extended family living in Venezuela for many years, they were concerned about her and her little girls’ safety, so they convinced Anna to come and live with them until the war ends. 

Although moving to the other part of the world was safer for the family, but it was not something easy at all. Anna was detached from her life, and what made her make it through that challenging time was her hobby of making chocolates. One of her friends, who is a chef from Italy, introduced her to this business and since then Anna indulged in it to the point that in 2017, she considered making it a career choice. Anna spent two years (when living abroad) in exploring this domain, learning, improving her skills and at the same time working in this domain.

In 2019, Anna and her family came to Syria for a visit, but due to the political situation of Venezuela and the imposed travel restrictions due to Covid-19, the family stayed and settled back in Aleppo.

This micro project opportunity means that Anna won’t give up on her career, with the funds she purchased all the equipment and supplies needed for her to pursue what she’s passionate about, and make a good living from exquisite and delicious sweets.