Beneficiary: Hanna Wassouf Afessa
Fund Date: 03/2020
Age: 49 years old
Family members: 2
For a person who has chosen driving for a living since 1997, it became more than a profession and turned into a lifestyle.
Hanna Wassouf Afessa first started with a construction company driving one of their dump trucks then in 2006 after nine years with the company he retired and chose to drive inside the city on a taxi car, it was more convenient specially that by that time he made a contract with Al-Enaya School to drive on of the school buses that carry the students daily.
Although driving was not his original profession, (Hanna worked in wall paints but due to some health problems caused by the chemical fumes, he had to walk away from that job), but he found his passion in driving, he tried working on every type of different vehicles.
When the war started in Syria in late 2011, it did not stop Hanna from practicing what he loves, on the contrary he was working on highway transportation between provinces, and by the time the highways were not that safe anymore, a new service started to become popular; escorting cars to cross highways between Syrian cities.
Hanna soon caught up that wave and started escorting families that wanted to travel by land and in their own cars, guiding them through the bumpy roads until they reach the safety shores away from Aleppo and its dangers, then he would return alone after his mission is successfully accomplished. That process went on for a while, the profit was good considering the huge risk of getting hurt or kidnapped, which is what happened one day…
On one of those journeys, some bandits crossed his way threatening Hanna and the family he was escorting, by a miracle they were left physically unharmed, but that incident was enough for Hanna to quit that risky job, specially that he was newly married and about to start a family.
The only thing to regret from quitting was the good income, he knew he needed to find an additional source of income, when the situation became worse with all the increasing costs of living. To counteract those increasing costs, Hanna left his rented apartment and moved in with his mother-in-law to cut back the expenses. But if Hanna could have his own taxi, things will start to get better for him (he currently rent a car to work) and his financial situation will change drastically, allowing Hanna to support his mother financially and live a decent life.