When Elia and his two brothers lost their only source of livelihood in Lebanon, their father’s land was their last resort and only hope.

After getting back to his home village Maskaneh, Elia became his stepmother’s only family and support after the father passed away, and now he lives with her and works with his brothers in farming.

The three brothers planted their spacious land with vines, but in order to plow such a large land, they had to rent a cultivator and wait for many days for their turn to come.

Lately, the renting costs deprived them a huge amount of their profits, while having a mini-cultivator has become a necessity nowadays to increase productivity and ensure better crops. 

Three families depend on this land, supporting their project will improve their living situation and guarantee them a sustainable income. 

The land is a strong connection to a place or history, a memory, and an identity, which gives life meaning.

When you give your land from the heart, it gives you back, and Marwan who spent most of his life working as a farmer has always depended on the generous bounties of his land for a living.

The father of four university students is the family’s sole provider, he works as an employee for a simple salary besides being a farmer, because lately one source of income has become insufficient to cover all the needs of the six members. 

Over the years, Marwan used to plant many crops like wheat and barley in addition to different trees; vines, olive, and almond. Now he decided to try new cultivations and chose pistachio as one of the pilot projects in his village Al-Hamra. 

This cultivation will help Marwan to expand his horizon, and use his expertise in the best ways to secure better livelihood and encourage other farmers to improve their life.

Prior to the Syrian war, George among many other farmer in Al-Hamra village relied on income from almond farming. The father of three university students has spent the majority of his life working in his family's land and in the recent years He had prepared his land and equipped it with a well then planted his land with Almond trees.

Over the course of the conflict, farm conditions and capacity were severely degraded. When rainwater was no longer enough to nourish the plantations, installing a drip irrigation system became a crucial necessity. Specially that the survival of the tree years old trees was depending on it.

By supporting George and supplying his farm with the adequate irrigation system we will be saving the trees that otherwise would die from the drought, leave George unable to earn sufficient incomes to provide for his family.

Like many villagers, Hanna works in farming in addition to his main profession as a carpenter, being the only provider for a big family; his wife and their four children besides his elderly parents, all living together in their house in Maskaneh.

Hanna’s land extends to cover wide spaces, planted with vines and various crops like kiwis, but due to the high prices, he didn’t have the chance to prepare his land with the essential requirements like an irrigation system and suitable equipment such as a mini-cultivator to use for plowing and transportation.

When Hanna applied to the Micro Projects initiative, he was excited to share his developmental ideas, and his enthusiasm was overwhelming. After having the needed support, the cultivation conditions of his land became much better and now he can focus on making more useful changes as long as he acquired all the necessary basis to continue and settle down in his home village. 

For many villagers, the land is much more than soil and rocks, it relates to all aspects of their existence, and represents their identity. Rather than being an owner, each person feels like he belongs to his piece of land and is entrusted with the responsibility of taking care of it. 

For many generations, Ghassoub’s family worked in farming, he himself has more than 10 years of experience in growing different crops. Having to be the only provider for a family of five, he depends on farming in addition to his work as a driver.

Ghassoub's land is in a good location close to his home, with rich soil, provided with enough water making it a suitable environment to grow several vegetables like potatoes, tomatoes, lemon, and corn.

Like many, Ghassoub has always aspired to improve the cultivation conditions in his land and to take advantage of its qualities by installing greenhouses, which would enable him to plant more crops and enhance his living situation. Unfortunately, starting such a project nowadays is impossible for him because of the high costs, especially since his income is barely enough to cover his family’s daily needs. 

Helping him with the greenhouses will make a great difference in his project, and will allow him to provide a dignified livelihood for his family.

Year after year, Murshed who is a floor tiler became no longer able to continue working the way he used to. While he was getting older, and being the only provider for his family, he started to focus more on farming to keep providing for them without needing any help.

He is a married man and a father of two; a daughter and a son. Living with his small family in their simple rural house in Ozair village; Murshed has worked very hard on his land and prepared it with the viable basics such as a suitable irrigation system to plant many crops like vegetables, fruit, wheat, and barley. 

For a man of his age, working in his main profession is getting more difficult with time, and his income has become barely enough for the daily essential needs. 

The only thing Murshed needed was a mini-cultivator, which will make plowing easier for him and save a good amount of his profits, also he can use it as a means of transportation to reach his land easily.

Living under the crucial economic inflation has become more difficult than ever, the salary of an employee is no longer a sufficient source of income, especially for a family of five such as Iyad's one, having three children and a wife to support has forced him to take up a second job in order to cover the increasing daily needs. 

Iyad lives with his family in Maskaneh village, ever since he was young he helped his father in the land and inherited it later, when the economic situation in the country became more than he could handle, he thought of taking advantage of the land so he started to work in farming every day in the evenings with the skills he got from h his father and his useful advice which helped Iyad to have good crops.

Lately, the main challenge Iyad and many farmers had to face, was the high costs of renting agricultural equipment, especially when they need to plow their lands.

After having the mini-cultivator, Iyad’s problem was solved and that allowed him to save the money he used to spend on renting a cultivator to improve the productivity of his land, moreover, this equipment could be used as a mean of transportation after making some adjustments on it.

this support pushed Iyad’s project forward and gave stability to his family’s living conditions. 

Many sectors have been damaged due to the destructive war, which affected all aspects of life in a way or another.

After the war, Amer, just like many farmers, faced several difficulties especially in watering his land, as the lack of power source made even regular tasks hard to accomplish! he realized that the only way to avoid this difficulty is by installing a drip irrigation system for his land. 

Amer is the sole breadwinner for his wife Nagham and their one-year-old son Stephen; they live in their home village Maskana (in the south of Homs city, 9 km away from its center). He has been working as a farmer for 10 years, and now his land is the family’s only source of livelihood.

Having an irrigation network was very important for the sustainability of the land and work;  Amer tried his best to solve this problem with some money he saved, he managed to install a part on a small section of his land. Unfortunately, completing the network was impossible because of its high costs, the only way to water the trees was by dragging hoses manually which was exhausting and took a lot of time and effort. 

Amer applied for a drip irrigation network in addition to some pesticides for his almond and peach trees. Having these requirements will definitly improve his income and helped him maintrain the land he has been planting for years.

Connecting to the Land gives sense of belonging, it means more than just a source of living, it is about giving life.

Naeem is a farmer from Al-Hamra village (south of Homs) who devoted his life to taking care of his land, and throughout his long farming years, he grew different crops like wheat and barley in addition to many trees such as olives, almond, and grapes. 

His land is in a suitable location with arable and fertile soil, equipped with an irrigation system, which encouraged him to think further and expand, he studied about planting pistachio trees and found it suitable. However, starting this project without support was not easy since he is the sole provider for a big family consisting of his wife, his son, daughter, and his mother.

When Naeem heard about the Micro-Agricultural Projects Program, he got very excited to implement such a pilot project in the village, his project study was very interesting and his application was approved. He immediately prepared a part of his land by making pits for the pistachio seedlings to plant them at the right timing, which is during the first two months of the year.

Age was never an obstacle for an ambitious man like Naeem, who keeps studying new methods and working to improve the cultivation in his land with enthusiasm. Now he is looking forward to the results of his new experience. 

Since they were children, Sandra and her brother Hadi had a big dream of studying pharmacy and working together. Sandra graduated from the University of Homs in 2019, living with her parents and her only brother who is a fourth-year pharmacy student.

Their father; the only provider for the family, works as an employee with a very simple salary, which is barely enough to cover their daily needs. Her family’s limited financial resources were a huge barrier in her way, she decided to work in someone else’s pharmacy just to help her father and provide her own income.   

Everything changed when she heard the great news of supporting her life project and her dream finally came true. Sandra started working passionately in her pharmacy, applying many marketing ideas and utilizing the experience she gained. Soon, her brother will graduate and join her, hoping to preserve a thriving project.   

After working in the UAE for 13 years as a salesman, Wassim had to go back home after the devastating news of his brother death, to stay with his parents and his sister Hanan who works in a cotton clothes shop to help in providing for the family.

Since he returned home, Wassim worked as an employee with a modest salary and that was not enough to secure a well living during the severe inflation. He aspired to utilize his previous experience, by opening a cosmetics and accessories shop where his sister could also help him, But unfortunately, their limited financial resources prevented implementing the project.

The sales field has always been Wassim’s only experience, helping him to start his own business will allow him to support his family and will ensure him and his sister the stability they need to settle down and start thinking about their future.