Shaza used to work as a hairdresser for 23 years, she is a single woman who lives with her old mother whom she is responsible for.

The nature of this job requires standing for long hours which caused Shaza many health problems and forced her to quit and think of another way to make a living. In 2019, she rented a shop, her shop was the only shop in Al-Hamidia neighborhood after the war and everything went well for the first few months. 

Unluckily, things changed as a result of prices inflation and Covid-19 which made it more difficult for her to purchase new goods. Her sales rate dropped with the income too, one day a friend told Shaza about the Micro Projects program and advised her to apply, so she applied immediately then got the help she needs to strengthen her business. This support revived her self-confidence again and encouraged her to continue her career as a working woman despite all the difficulties.

Ruba has many dreams just like all the other girls of her age, one of her dreams was having a peaceful life with her family at their lovely home! Unfortunately, the brutality of war destroyed everything she looked forward to and also with them her family's only home.

The family had to hide from the falling shells in the shelter for a period of time, but the suffering didn't stop there and the family lost some of their loved ones, Ruba's family had no choice but to flee from their village to the city of Homs.

Her father, the only provider for the family worked in Homs as a driver until one day he got injured by an explosion and lost his vehicle, his only source of livelihood. Ruba wanted to help her father in supporting the family as her brother is serving in the army, she was very close to churches and she found that no one is specialized in preparing scented frankincense so churches have to buy it from outside the city. As a result of her good relation with the church, a priest helped her to find a monastery where she learned how to prepare this material.

Today after all she went through, it's time for Ruba to put everything behind and to start her project, this way she would be able to help her family and to dream again of a better future.

Mttanious worked as a wall painter since 2005, working for a long time in this profession was not easy at all and had very negative impacts on his health, which made him go through many surgeries like knee replacement and open-heart surgery which forced him to leave this job as it requires a lot of physical effort. 

Being the sole breadwinner for his small family; his wife Souhaila and his daughter Ghazal, he couldn’t stop working and thought of another way to support his family, so he decided to open a grains and spices shop because there isn’t such a shop in his neighborhood, these food commodities are highly demanded every day but unluckily, his limited financial resources were an obstacle in his way and he couldn’t start his project. 

When Mttanious heard about the Micro Projects Program, he was certain that this is his opportunity to start his project, the help he got was a great support, and this way he would be able to provide a good income and ensure a better livelihood for his wife and daughter.

“The cruel war affected all Syrian families and made many of them lose everything they have, even their ability to take care of their daily needs. and it became luxurious at the post-war period to think of installing a solar system especially when people’s major interests were repairing what was destroyed and finding a livelihood to support for their families.”

Samer Kabak is originally a plumber, he also worked in solar system installation since 2008, he lives with his mother and his brother. His business was affected badly during the war and he lost most of his important equipment. Over the economic crisis, the increase in the price of fuel reflected on the provision of electricity which forced people to use an alternative solution making it possible for Samer to restart his project again.

All that encouraged him strongly to get back to work in this field, but the main barrier in his way was the lack of most essential equipment. Obtaining the needed support helped Samer to facce this severe crisis and stand on his feet again.

Jean worked as a taxi driver for 20 years, back in his home-town Aleppo for 13 years, then the war forced him to leave his city to a safer place, Mashta Al-Helou was his destination and he stayed there for a year.

In 2015, he had an opportunity to work in Lebanon as a truck driver for a furniture company, unluckily, the company he was working with shut down, and he had to find another job as a taxi driver. 

After one year, he had to leave Lebanon due to the bad security situation and went to Homs searching for another chance, his brother helped him and they bought a car together so Jean could work on it and they share its profits, in 2018 he got married and moved with his wife Widad to live in with his mother-in-law.

Currently, Jean is working on a car but his income is very low to cover the maintenance costs and insufficient for two families (his family and his brother's family) during these difficult economic conditions.

Jean said it felt like God's hand came from above and pulled me up when he had the opportunity to get a taxi which will allow him to drive around the city and to get his life back together after all these tough times.

Bashar is a married man who lives with his wife Sulaf, his son Fouaad and his daughter Tala. He used to work as a taxi driver since 2010, and he is the only breadwinner for his family in addition to his elderly parents, during the cruel war he was forced to sell his own car and travel seeking a better life in Lebanon where he worked as a driver too. 

Unfortunately, his father’s health started to deteriorate, being the sole provider Bashar went back home to look after him and spent all of his savings on the treatment. Having no livelihood source was very hard on him so he had to work in a different field for a living. 

Bashar needs to have a taxi because this job was always his experience, he would be able to do what he loves and to provide a stable source of income for his family.

Syrians lives are no longer the same as they were before the war which had a major impact in all the aspects. As a result of this cruel war, Attiah lost his previous job as a maintenance technician because the company he was working for shut its doors in 2014, which forced him to find another livelihood source being the only provider for his family of three and his mother. 

He didn't want to stay without a job, and his experience in maintenance helped him to have a new start working as an electrician among clients' houses. His simple beginning encouraged him to continue and this job became his source of income. Currently, Attiah aspires to expand his work by opening an electrical maintenance shop so he could repair and sell electrical devices. This opportunity will be a push towards a better income and provide more stability and independence. 

We all have dreams, but we don't always have the courage to pursue them like Manar did. Manar is a 42-years-old writer who lives with his senior parents.

He was studying math and working as a logistic in a church but his father's severe illness forced him to leave his study and work. Treatment expenses were a huge burden on the family's finance; they had to spend all their savings. When his father’s health gradually improved, Manar found a job in a Community Support Program as a supervisor of children's section but unluckily, this program was limited by a period of time and his contract expired by the end of 2020.

His passion has always been a great motive since he found pleasure in working with children, developing their imagination and intellectual abilities, all that led him to search of a way to support his family and ensure a stable income, so he created the interactive and educational stories which is a model of stories consisting of a story and a memory game, this way the children can live the events till the end by doing some activities in groups or individually.

Manar could not implement his dream project because his financial resources were limited. Now he has the chance to start his project and prepared a joyful place for children called House of Stories Center. This center provides many services such as interactive & educational story workshops in three languages (Arabic-English and French), chess and a little library, making this center the only one to provide such services in the city of Homs.

For the time being, Manar aspires to make learning and reading more fun, he is also working on cooperating with more centers and kindergartens to reach more children in Homs and Syria.

Saeed loved working in carpentry since he was at a young age, and this job was more like a hobby to him, he mastered this profession without knowing that someday he is going to need it as a source of living.

Saeed is the sole provider for his family of five; his wife and three sons, he worked as an electrician since 1998 in his small workshop, and he did not expect that he will have to leave everything behind seeking safety in 2014 when he moved with his family to Lebanon and worked as a truck driver there in the port of Beirut.

The security situation in Lebanon started to get worse in 2017, which forced Saeed's family to go back home. luckily their house was not damaged a lot, but the bad news was that all the tools he used to work with had been stolen.

He immediately rented a workshop and started working by utilizing his skills in carpentry, and like all the craftsmen he was forced to rent a workshop, most of Saeed's income was being paid to the workshop owner which made his income insufficient to provide for his family. 

When Saeed had the support to purchase all the tools and machines needed he said: “this project will be my last hope to change my family’s life for the best”.