Milad Nakkoul is a 36-years-old man married to Vima. Milad and Vima chose to start a family at a young age, they have a 4-years-old Antonio and 2-years-old Ibrahim. When the couple started their family, the war had already started. Milad who used to work in a goldsmithing workshop lost his job due to war, then he was offered to guard the health care clinic of “St. Asia Al-Hakim” in Al-jdaideh street in the old city, it was convenient for him since he was about to get married, and the guarding job included residency. Shortly after, the old city became extremely dangerous, the armed groups entered the area and Milad had to leave the clinic immediately. 

Milad took his family and refuged to his in-law’s house, until he could find a solution, after a while he found a similar job, to guard a villa in al-Hamdanieh, so the family moved again to the new place which is a small room in the villa that Milad is looking after. When the work conditions became unbearable, both Milad and Vima were feeling exploited, they found themselves obliged to search for a new place to live.

When Milad found a job in guarding a building in Al-Sabil neighborhood, the couple were already exhausted from constant moving, specially that Vima was pregnant with her third child by that time.

Although the pregnancy news was exciting, but by the time of her birth Milad was informed that his services are no longer required and within a short notice he should evacuate the place.

Milad is now a father of three, with no stable job nor a place to live. And as much as he is grateful for the church’s help in securing an apartment for them temporarily, he is tired of being dependent on others. 

Having his own pick-up truck will make him break this cycle of dependency. And with his hard work and the support of his friends and family he will be able to provide for his family.

Hanna Saoud has the determination and the will power to pursue a better life after all the losses he’s been through. the 44 years-old man was unfortunately divorced, he lives now with his mother in a relative’s house after they lost their family house because of fraud and were crushed under the burden of rentals, all they were left with was his father’s retirement salary, and the income from his own job in wall paint. But because of the war his job wasn’t going well due to the lack of stability in the city overall. For a while, the church was helping them financially, especially that Hanna’s mother was sick and had to do an open-heart surgery, their expenses were magnified dramatically, the church also helps in securing the permanent medication the mother needs. Hanna needs to take action and reclaim control over his life, by upgrading his income, and in order to do that he applied for a mini truck to work on, hoping that in the future he could have his own house and live independently with his family.

A long time ago, Magi started working in the sales business, she worked with many materials like make up products, cotton wear and clothing in general.

The 52-years-old mother of three, had her life changed drastically because of the ugly war, after it teared the family apart; one of her sons lives in Lebanon, the other is now settled in Netherlands, he left the country after an unfortunate kidnapping accident he went through.

Like all of that wasn’t enough to burden Magi with worries, her husband went missing 6 years ago, and till this day they have no idea what happened to the poor man. Magi lives with her third son Krikor in a rented house in Al-Suleymanieh area after they had to sell their old house when the war started.

Today Magi works from home in selling clothes, she’s been doing this job for many years now and made good acquaintances in the market, and many clients that she works with regularly, she also participated in seasonal galleries for three years in a row. However, there are many obstacles facing Magi, like the increasing costs of the used materials and the bad financial circumstances the community is having. In these hard times, the hardworking woman has to work extra hours, for instance she works as a hair dresser between houses in order to increase her income.

With the help of this program, Magi will be able to stock many items at wholesale price in larger amounts, thus she will increase her profit margins, and thus provide a more decent living for herself in these difficult times. 

Since his teenage years, Hovig Chaprazian entered the mechanical cars maintenance field, and it has been his profession for 25 years. But this road hasn’t been easy, the war with its start cost him his job. The workshop he worked in for many years was closed and he was unemployed for a while, but being the only provider for his parents he had to do something. For a while he worked in a similar field of industrial engine maintenance to provide a living in a time that was very hard on the whole city of Aleppo. Their house was in a dangerous zone of Al-Midan and as much as the neighborhood was targeted with mortar shells that the family had to move out. Hence, in 2014 Hovig with his parents and sister were displaced to a relative’s house in a much safer neighborhood for a while. 

Hovig wasn’t happy about how things ended, he was offered a job in his main profession in Latakia so he went there for 4 months. After coming back from latakia, he made a partnership with an acquaintance for approximately a year, and since things were going good for them both, Hovig felt relieved and was thinking about starting a family specially that his relatives offered him their house to stay in, and indeed he got married in 2016 just after Aleppo situation got a little better. But unfortunately, not all good things last, like his business partnership, Hovig lost the workshop, all that he was left with is some tools and equipment he was able to maintain and keep. Like losing his livelihood income wasn’t bad enough, his relatives that gave him their house to stay in, asked him to evacuate the apartment, Hovig had no choice but to leave.

Today Hovig, with his wife rosy and two-years-old son Mike are all living with Hovig’s parents in the old house, after repairing the damage that occurred because of the war.

Hovig is the only provider for them all, since neither his wife or his old father work. With a little help Hovig will be able to rent a workshop and purchase the tools needed to proceed his work, specially that his acquaintances and clients are all very supportive of him. This way he will be able to provide a decent life for his family. 

The family business that George Aghazarian and his brother lost, was nothing compared to losing their beloved sister and niece…this great loss which changed their lives forever.

George Aghazarian works in car sheet repairing, he had an equipped workshop for car repairing in Handarat (an area few miles away from Aleppo, the family lost their workshop with the start of the war, and before they had the chance to cope with this devastating reality, tragedy stroke again in 2013, this time the news were more wrecking; while his sister and her daughter were going home in AL-Suleymanieh, a shell fell out of nowhere causing immediate death of the mother and daughter on her birthday. 

The grieving family couldn’t imagine how life would continue without their loved ones. they sold everything they had and decided to leave the country. But George and his small family didn’t have the option of leaving, the family found themselves with no house or a job, so they had to start from scratch again. Their church supported them with a house to live in temporarily, and George went back to his work field but this time working in other peoples’ workshops and splitting the majority of his profits with the owner.

George has been through so much suffering, it is time for him to start a new chapter in his life, one that is optimistic and bright, so he can continue his journey of healing. Having his own workshop and equipment will motivate him more and more to restore his life for the upcoming days.