Micro-Projects is a livelihood-support program which helps family providers who had either lost their livelihood during the war, or aspire to be a productive and financially independent part of the community by starting their own income generating business. By financing their micro-projects, Christian Hope Center is helping Christian families to have a sustainable source of income, through the provision of equipment, machinery and tools. This will eventually mitigate the economic harm caused by increasing poverty and insecurity, preserve their dignity, and alleviate the calamities of war and the economic crisis, which will ultimately preserve the existence of an active Christian community in Syria. In addition to the Micro-Projects supported in Cities of Aleppo, Homs and Damascus, the program also supports families who rely on agriculture as their principal source of income in rural Homs.


612

Aleppo

467

Homs

176

Damascus

Blacksmith Workshop


Youssef lives with his wife, parents and sister in his family's house. After marriage he was planning to live in a borrowed house and he had started to renovate, but during the war the house was damaged. Then they traveled to Lebanon for three years but he didn’t succeed there so he came back to his country.

During his time in Lebanon, he worked as a blacksmith in a company, after which he worked for two years in maintaining air conditioners,...


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Plumbing Equipment


Harout is 41 years old and a father of two daughters and a son, living in a rented house, his first job was in his father's shoe workshop, then they sold it to cover living expenses. Afterwards he started working as a plumber in a monastery and learned the profession there. 

In 2010 he traveled to Lebanon and continued in the same profession.
At the end of 2011 the family returned to Aleppo and bought a house, unfortunately after nearly just one...


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Taxi


Mikhaiel is a newly married man who recently moved to a rental apartment subsequent to living in his parent’s house since his financial situation was unstable.

Mikhaiel started his career back in his early twenties when he rented his friend’s taxi and worked as an uber driver but this didn’t last long because he got called for military service in 2007 for two years and then he worked in a sewing workshop approximately for 8 years. 

In 2017 he got injured by...


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Carpentry Equipment


Ghassan 55 years old has been working as a carpenter for more than 40 years, he learned this profession and worked in many workshops for more than twenty years, then he decided to become independent and work separately between homes and workshops upon request.

Today, Ghassan is the father of two sons who live in his grandmother’s house, after the loss of their own home, which he bought in 2012. As a result, the family moved to the city of Homs...


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Photography Equipment


Pamela lives with her parents and her younger sister in a rented apartment, she has been working since she was 17 and they moved to Tartus to escape from the war and the shells that were falling all over Aleppo.

In Tartus she worked in so many different domains, later, she started taking photographs as a hobby then, that hobby turned to a passion and profession.

In 2017 the family came back to Aleppo and Pamela's friends were the biggest supporters who...


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Sweets and pastries at home


Katia is married with two kids; she loves to take care of her family and pamper them along with prioritizing time for her hobbies and her work.

Katia discovered her passion which was making pastries and sweets, she took a course from a professional chef to gain more knowledge in her specialization.

She started evolving slowly, and her first few orders were from her close friends and her relatives, everyone who tried her sweets and pastries encouraged her to keep up her...


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Air conditioning and refrigerator maintenance


Antoine is married with 2 kids, they live in a modest apartment, his wife and him both work hard for their daughters.

Antoine has made his way in this world by working at air conditioning maintenance since he was a young man, he started as a worker and after taking a course he developed his work range.

First few years of learning the profession were somehow harsh on him, but his aim and hard work paid off and he became skilled and...


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Taxi


Antoine is a divorced man living with his daughter who is preparing for the bachelor’s exam and they live a small apartment.

Antoine had a vehicle which he used to drive when he was a round trip driver at a transportation company and he was satisfied with his income but after the war and its consequences the company decided to close and he became unemployed. 

Because he has a daughter to take care of, he needed to quickly search for a new...


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Rubber Mold Workshop


Mikhaiel served in military for 10 years and now he thrives to start his life from scratch; despite all the difficulties that he has been facing, decided to focus on the opportunities and not the obstacles.

He had started working in the rubber molding domain with his father since he was young, gained experience and even worked during the vacations of his military service.

Moreover, they've lost all of their equipment during the war due to the fact that their workshop’s region...


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Stationery shop


"I love my country Syria and I'll keep up working at my shop no matter what" 

Salem who is 66 years old, lives in one of the parish's houses with his wife and three children, during the war they were forced to leave their home for a short period of time and sadly his daughter got injured by a stray bullet and she is still carrying a piece of it in her hand, moreover his stationery shop was damaged by the...


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Sewing workshop


Salim is a hardworking and strong-willed man, who lives with his three siblings along with being the main breadwinner in his family. 

Salim laid the foundation of his sewing experience back when he was young by helping his father in his free time and during his summer vacations.

In 1986, he opened his own workshop and everything was great, the business was profitable, which made him enlarge the project and specialize in sewing uniforms.

The story of his big success was torn apart...


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Rubber Molding


Everyone appreciates his valuable possessions and it is difficult to sell a property in order to face the difficulty of life and the difficult living conditions.

Ohaness faced this problem when he had to sell their house because of the lack of work at that time after he was discharged from the military.

He is 31 years old, served the military for more than nine years, now he lives with his brother, who serves in the military, and his mother in their...


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Plastic Houseware Shop


Asaad worked in his shop for plumbing equipment for 29 years, he lives with his family of four, and he is the only provider for them. In 2019 he decided to move back to Al-Hamidia (his parents’ neighborhood) and opened a plastic houseware shop where his wife would help him. 

This shop was the only one in the area and things were going good, but Asaad became unable to provide it with more goods due to the economic crisis which appeared after the war and caused a sharp increase in prices. Supporting this project during these hard circumstances will be the push that Asaad needs to save his business and continue his life in a stable way. 

Barbershop


Kabalan had a dream to open his own salon since he was young and worked very hard to make his dream come true. He started learning about hairstyling when he was 16 years old, through that time he used to save money and buy tools and equipment to prepare for his future salon.

Kabalan is a single young man, he lives with his grandmother and his aunt and he is the only provider for the family. At the beginning of the...


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Blacksmith Workshop


Alber loved blacksmithing a lot until he mastered this skill because this profession was his passion, he started working in his workshop in Al-Bayada neighborhood since a very young age.

He was living with his wife Nariman, his son Yousef and his little daughter Angel a peaceful life in their house in Hamidia, when the war started they fled to a village near Homs in 2011. During this period Alber was in a car accident that caused him a serious injury...


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Cotton Clothes Shop


Margaret is a married woman and a mother of two; a boy and a girl, all she cared about since her only daughter Nadia started studying at the university was encouraging her to continue her studies after she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. 

Lately, life burdens became very heavy on her husband’s shoulders, who works in a mini-market. She found it necessary to help him during these tough circumstances, sometimes, she used to work with him in his shop and she gained a good experience in sales over time. Margaret applied to the Micro Projects to open a cotton clothes shop then got the suitable support to start her project which will enable her to stand beside her husband and help him in providing a better income for their children.

Mini-Market and Dairy Shop


This family’s tragedy started when they were displaced from their village (Om-Sharshouh) leaving behind their whole life. Osama who is the only provider for his family of five and his parents had a restaurant in his village which later was completely destroyed with the start of the war. 

Since he moved to the city of Homs, he searched for a source of livelihood to provide for his family and tried working in many professions like wall painting, cars repairing and floor...


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Mini-Cultivator


“Instead of being passive and waiting to receive aids; I want to be productive and work to provide for my family” those were Hanna’s words during his project opening, talking about the positive change which happened after having a mini-cultivator. 

Hanna is a farmer from Maskaneh who suffered a lot during the last few years from the high renting costs; his income became barely enough and the huge inflation made him struggle to cover his family’s essential needs, being the sole...


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Agricultural Vehicle


Jad's land of wheat has always been the family's only source of livelihood for many generations. He lives with his wife Lauren and their one-year-old baby Bashour, the couple works together in farming.

Jad bought a tractor back in 2015; this agricultural vehicle improved the production in his land and saved him the high plowing costs.  But lately, the huge inflation has heavily affected the agricultural sector, farmers are suffering from the significant increase in the prices of all the materials...


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Cleaning Materials


“Life is like a boxing fight, the last man standing wins.” with these words Joseph described his life, he is a married man and a father of two boys; Ghassan (13 years) and Marcus (10 years), he worked as a wall painter since 2007 in many different cities around Syria. As it is known, this job requires a lot of physical effort which caused him many health problems and he couldn’t continue anymore in this tiring field. With very simple...


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Coffee Shop


Her will to live was stronger than all the pain she went through, giving the greatest sacrifice by choosing to keep her baby instead of taking the cure as a pregnant woman, her name is Nisreen and she is a mother of two; Jessica and George. She was diagnosed with breast cancer while carrying her baby. Taking the treatment was harmful to him so she refused it, and completed her pregnancy with a lot of courage and patience. 

After her baby’s...


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Mini-Cultivator


Mikhail had to give up on plumbing due to the lack of work opportunities and he instead decided to focus on farming, as he has a long experience in addition to the availability of irrigation water, which helped him ensure the best agricultural conditions for his grape trees.

Mikhail is the only provider for his wife and their three children; two sons and a daughter who are all students. The family relies on the land for a living, which encouraged Mikhail to develop the family's only source of livelihood. he applied for a mini-cultivator in order to avoid the high renting costs he had to pay whenever he needed to plow the land, and at the same time, his income will increase by being able to plant new winter crops hoping to ensure his family a better livelihood. 

Cleaning Materials Distribution


Imad worked in selling clothes for six years and everything was going well for him, until the devastating war started and destroyed his shop completely. Being the sole provider for his wife and three children, he had no other choice but to use his car in goods distribution, without knowing that this job will become his new source of livelihood for a long time.

When COVID-19 began to spread, he noticed that the local market requires more sanitizers and cleaning products so he...


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Mini-Market


Shukri is a retired school teacher who lives with his wife Mouna and his twin sons; Rabih and Rami (13 years). After retirement he couldn’t stay without a job during the hard economic circumstances, so he thought of opening his small shop especially that it is located in Wadi Al-Sayeh (a neighborhood near Al-Hamidia), as a neighborhood newly emerged from war, Shukri took the advantage of having the only mini-market in the area where life was coming back.

Just like all...


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Taxi


Samir is a husband and a father of 2 young kids that he devoted his life to providing them with what they need for a good life, especially for his son, who suffers from asthma and needs to visit the hospital every now and then to recover. 

Samir works two shifts every day as a valet at a hotel and even though he works for long hours he still barely makes enough to survive

Back in 2010, Samir used to own an optical...


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Law Office


Nidal always dreamed of becoming a lawyer. He studied hard and graduated from law university in 2001. However, his family's financial situation prevented him from finishing his degree, and he had to work as a government employee after graduation. He also had to help his father in their small grocery shop next to their house.

Years went by, and in 2019, Nidal finally finished his studies and became a lawyer. He started working under the supervision of a professional attorney, and...


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Taxi


Youssef had always been a hardworking man. He spent most of his life as a government employee, dedicating himself to his job with diligence and determination. However, as the years went on, his age began to catch up with him, and he found himself suffering from a series of health issues that made it increasingly difficult for him to work as he used to. he had already undergone a hernia surgery and a digestive system operation in recent years, and...


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Mini-Van


Wasef  was content with his work until the war broke out, forcing him to serve in the most dangerous areas. Despite the risks, he remained determined to survive. 

Years went by, and Wasef witnessed countless heart-wrenching moments that often left him with a heavy heart. However, in 2018, something even more devastating happened. While on duty, he got injured by being exposed to poisonous gas, causing him to lose one of his lungs.

Wasef's injuries limited his work options, and he found...


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Taxi


life had not been easy for Riad. He has two young children and a wife who works as a babysitter to help make ends meet, to add to his troubles, his two sisters were married to men that had been diagnosed with deadly diseases, and Riad took on the responsibility of supporting them as well.

Riad had always been a hard worker. For over 20 years he had worked with gold, crafting delicate and intricate pieces that were traded all around...


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Pick-up truck


Rawad was just a boy when he lost both his parents, he had to start working hard from a young age to make a living. He worked on farms in his hometown and various jobs here and there to make a living, but life was tough.

When the time came for Rawad to serve in the army in 2011, he was sent to one of the most dangerous area in Syria - Daraa where he spent 10 years on the frontlines,...


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Pharmacy


Randa was born and raised in the small village of Khabab, where her parents had settled after retiring. She lived with her family, which included her brother who serve in the army, and her sister who work as a teacher.

After completing her high school education, Randa was lucky to receive a scholarship to study in Damascus, along with her sister and brother; Randa worked hard to earn her degree and was overjoyed when she graduated.

Afterward, Randa started her career as...


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Pick-up truck


Samer is a hardworking husband and loving father of two young children including a newborn baby. The four of them rent a small house in the countryside. He used to work in automotive electronics but had to stop due to a debilitating condition called Sciatica; this condition has not only prevented him from continuing to work in his field but has also limited his ability to work in any job because he is in immense constant physical pain.  

Samer needs surgery that...


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Pickup truck


Nidal's life has been full of struggles and hardships that would have broken the resolve of the strongest men; Nidal has faced numerous challenges that have threatened his family's survival. He is a husband, a father, and a grandfather that had to endure the weight of responsibility for his loved ones' well-being.

With a small two-room house, Nidal's living conditions have never been the best. Still, he has managed to provide his family a roof over their heads. His eldest son...


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Taxi


Youssef woke up to the sound of his mother's sewing machine that she used to earn some extra money. in the small rented house where they lived with his older brother. They had been struggling to make ends meet since his father passed away years ago. 

Youssef had studied in college, but the war situation forced him to leave and serve in the army from 2018 to 2021. It was a difficult time, but he managed to pull through with the...


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Taxi


Danny always knew that life wasn't going to be easy. He grew up in a small village near Swaidaa, in the countryside of Syria. Danny's father was their sole provider, working as a farmer to feed his family. Danny helped him since he was old enough to pick vegetables and deliver them to the local market.

When Danny was only 18 years old, his father passed away from cancer. It was a huge shock to the family. Danny had to take...


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Tattoo Artist


Sandra had always been the reliable one in her family. As the eldest child, she had taken on the role of mother and sister to her younger brother, especially after their mother passed away in 2012.

It was a devastating loss for the family, but especially for Sandra and her brother. Their mother had a heart attack after hearing about an explosion where her son was at that time. The trauma of losing her son overwhelmed her and led to her...


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