Tony Saeed, the father of two is an example of resilience in times of war. On both safety and financial aspects Tony and his family have suffered for long time. Their house in Al Midan was extremely dangerous, the falling shells had their toll on the family specially the children, it got to a point where they were forced to leave their home (and ever since they have been living in rented apartments). 

Before the war, Tony’s job was going good, he used to work partially in different clothes’ manufacturing workshops but with the increasing expensiveness and the economic depression Tony’s income became insufficient, not only that but he also stayed unemployed for a long period of time.

Tony refused to give up on the future, with the sewing machines he purchased with the support of Micro Projects initiative, he is going to establish his own workshop hoping that the odds be in his favor and this new step bring him more stability and success.

Theodora lives with her mother and takes good care of her. Being single and the only working member in the family, the burdens of financially supporting the livelihood fall completely on Theodora’s shoulders. 

The war years was hard for the two ladies, their house and the sewing workshop that she used to work in, were both in Al-Midan, which is a considerably dangerous area in Aleppo. But Theodora and her mother managed to survive safely throughout those dark days. 

In fact, Teodora has always been thinking about improving her income, thus she has attended a tailoring course a while ago, in order to be more independent by opening her own small workshop. Although, her plans have slightly changed (as she now will work from home) but her determination to succeed is still the same if not stronger than ever.

Annie’s family suffered a lot during the war, first their farmland in northeast of Syria got confiscated, which was devastating for the family, specially for Annie’s husband Antoine who had a heart attack due to the overwhelming news of losing his lands and crops. Then one of the many shells that were falling on Aleppo city hit Annie’s building, the incident resulted in the injury of a family friend who was rushed into the ER to get the needed stitches. All those bad circumstances forced Annie’s family to leave their damaged house and move to a rented place.

When she was still a young girl, Annie learned how to sew, which she found as a good chance to use this skill when the situation was worse and  she opened a small workshop, but the business took a huge hit due to the economic crisis. Annie couldn’t handle the burden of rising the rent and the employees' salaries so she had to close.

Today Annie is not giving up at all, instead she is opening a workshop inside her house, this way she can ensure a maximum profit and flexible work environment where she can keep taking care of her husband and be with her children. 

Bassam lived with his wife Naeema and son Abdel Massih in Bustan Al-Basha area, but with the start of war they were forced like all civilians in their neighborhood to evacuate their house leaving everything behind and move to a rented house in a safer region. Bassam’s business in Electrical Maintenance faced a set of challenges too, the lack of electricity and the war impacts led him to lose his job in 2012. He ended up working in a restaurant as a maintenance guy. Unfortunately, his job there ended with a tragic work injury, after he fell from the roof while on duty. Doctors are assuring him that soon he will be able to go back to normal, but by then he will need a job to be able to support his family. reopening a shop for maintenance services will be very beneficial for him to have a good life and study income. 

From an early age, George made the decision which paved his career path to enter the industrial field. He learnt all about metal lathing and slowly opened his own workshop, taking advantage of having his uncle place to work in Sheikh Maksoud area. But the vicious war changed everything, and suddenly the stability and prosperity of his business was gone as the workshop was confiscated by armed groups and all equipment were stolen. 

Many years passed by before George was able to reopen in Al- Midan, after overcoming several difficulties especially the financial ones. The lathing machine he purchased was second-hand use and had some problems, but on the other hand the price was reasonable, so George made that compromise hoping that later he will be able to replace that machine with a better enhanced one. It is also worth mentioning that George is single and lives with his two older sisters Afaf and Georgette; whom due to their age aren’t able to work and that makes him responsible of taking care of the family’s financials. With this support George will purchase a new machine that will allow him to increase the production and make good quality work.

War had numerous devastating and horrendous effects on Syrians during its nearly ten years, but for Sheraz, there was no greater loss than losing his brother who was kidnapped in Kasab in the beginning of the war, only to discover his death three months later. The mother couldn’t bare the tragic news, she suffered from a stroke and the poor lady broke down after losing her son. Sheraz’s responsibilities became heavier since he became the sole provider not only for his family of four, but also for his mother and his brother’s family (his wife and two daughters). But what added to Sheraz’s suffering is that when his workshop of lathing became out of reach due to the area being under conflict, all his machines and equipment were stolen. In 2016, when he saw his workshop again, he couldn’t resume his work nor could he replace his stolen machinery with new ones because of the high costs.

Today, Sheraz with your help will be able to revive his old business in lathing, and take a better care of his family and his brothers’ family.   

What started nearly six years ago as a passion for photography turned to be a career choice for Hagop, in the toughest years of war. Hagop the father of 11-years-old twins Ani and Lucy, had a hobby of taking photographs. As his love for it grew, he took a course to learn more techniques and improve his skills. Not knowing that shortly after that one of his friends who happened to be a photographer will offer Hagop to buy his studio equipment since he was leaving the country, it was only then when he considered taking this career path. 

His rented shop in AL-Serian street has the advantage of not having any photographers in the same area, but the problem was that Hagop’s cameras are old and outdated, also, they are more on the amateur side. To be able to rise his business quality and reach his utmost potentials, he needs to have a camera with a full-frame range that will allow him to work on many professional projects in the future.      

Ani Kelejian is an independent, hardworking woman who used to work for long hours in a sewing workshop to earn an income and have a decent life after her parents passed away when she was still young. Unfortunately, by getting older the exhausting working hours were starting to be more difficult, so she started to work in a sewing workshop that makes uniforms. 

Ani takes care of her sister khanem who was also a seamstress, but since she had health problems, she quit her job because it got very tiring. Her brother George also became unemployed when his boss closed his workshop and decided to leave the country, which makes Ani the only one working and providing for the three of them.

In 2012, Ani, her sister and brother were displaced from their home in Al-Midan for four years; since the area there was extremely dangerous, Khanem became very depressed and suffered from anxiety; she wanted to get back to their home, after a while they moved back but the livelihood costs put a heavy burden on the family.

This support will make a big difference in Ani’s life, purchasing the sewing machines will also improve the work and quality of the pieces she makes. 

In the field of manufacturing agricultural trucks parts, Ameen Maghamez faces many hardships such as the rapid change in the market’s needs, the difference which occurred in the material used and wanted by customers, all of this reflected on Ameen’s business because his existing molds became useless. The problem is that without these molds, Ameen can’t produce the parts to complete his work in order to sell them to customers when the season approaches.

The molds are the main factor in this work, nowadays they cost a lot and because of the harsh livelihood conditions Ameen is unable to replace them and update his equipment to make a progress and achieve high quality production although this field of work is very profitable.

With the funding Ameen will get the molds he needs to re-enter the market strongly and confidently to turn the business wheel again.   

Vera suffered like all Syrians during the war, she used to work with a local designer but their workplace was hit by a shell, consequently the designer left the country, he hoped she would come along because of her great work quality but she stayed here and started working from home to provide for her family and take care of her son and husband.

Vera and her husband Antranik and son Hosep were displaced from their home in Al-Midan after it was damaged completely to a safer but smaller house given to them by one of their relatives. It was very difficult time for Vera’s family since her husband was shot in the leg by a sniper in Bustan Albasha where his shop was, and after many painful surgeries he still suffers till this day. Vera’s son also was discharged from the army service after a medical mistake left him unable to walk or talk properly, the 43-years-old Hosep cannot work due to his medical situation, which makes Vera the only provider of her family. Vera is now looking for support to purchase sewing machines as the machine she works on now is very outdated and started to affect the work greatly, the new machines will be put in the same room where the son sleeps because the house is very small. The determination and will of this woman are truly overwhelming in the most positive way despite all the hardships she faces daily.