My name is Aboud Koudsieh, I am 29 years old, I live with my mother, father and aunt in my aunt’s house because my father George who is 60 years old had a serious injury in his leg 3 years ago due to an accident, as a result we had to move from our home on the 4th floor to my aunt’s home which is on the 2nd floor. My mother Nadia is 52 and she is unemployed, my aunt Rima is a single woman who works in a sewing workshop. Like all Syrians, our house was hit by many missiles in the time between 2010-2017, my father used to work as a mechanic but because of his injury in 2016 he became unemployed and the responsibility of the family was on my shoulders. I am currently working in a bakery shop in Maysaloon area as a sales representative to distribute its products, I have been working in this field for more than 8 years now. I want to have a taxi of my own to work on because very soon I will be married and that give me even bigger responsibilities as I will be responsible for providing the needs for my parents and my own little family.

Maher Dayoub and his wife Victoria with their seven years old twins; George and David, all live in Al-Midan area, in a borrowed house for one of their relatives.

Before the war, Maher worked in tailoring and clothes industry for many workshops. He was married and living with his parents at the family house. Things were good, but the war changed everything. When Victoria gave birth to her twins in 2012, the war had already reached the heart of Aleppo city. 

In addition to the constant fear and lack of safety, Maher faced other challenges like being the only provider for the family, his job depended on clients’ orders so there wasn’t any consistency, with the start of the war the business flow decreased drastically until Maher’s resources were drained out, he fled with his family to a village called Skailbiye; where some of his relatives live. When things got a little better in their neighborhood in Aleppo they returned, but this time Maher was obliged to find a new and stable source of income, and renting a taxi was the only suitable option.

This time Maher wishes to work on his own car to increase his income, and what he realized from his own experience is that this profession can make him a stable profit, and it could provide a decent life for the family, specially that his responsibilities are getting bigger as his twins are getting older.   

Fighting through the challenges of life can be hard enough as it is normally, but it would be even harder when you're living in a country afflicted by war.

Remon Mardelly had his fair share of obstacles, the 23 years old chose a profession in the musical field, he had always loved playing the keyboard, and he gradually grew an interest in composing music and slowly built his own small recording studio in his house in Al-sheikh Maksoud area.

In 2012, when the armed groups entered the area, Remon and his parents left everything behind after they were displaced from their home… he had established that studio from his hard work and he lost it all suddenly…not only that he lost his studio, but also the events that he used to play in were all cancelled which meant that Remon lost his job too.

In 2015, while Remon was walking around in AL-Suleymanieh streets, a shell fell nearby, and he was hit by a shrapnel. A year after his injury, in 2016, Remon was called to recruit in the military service and he had no other choice, and till this day he’s still in the service.

But the young man didn’t give up his passion and career, he tried to restart…

For the second time (a year ago), Remon started isolating a room in his rented house with covers to transform it into a musical studio, but due to the extremely high costs of the equipment he needed, he can’t afford purchasing them. 

Remon now is wishing to having his own equipment and his own instruments, and that will allow him to participate in more events (which is something he can’t do at the moment)  and at the same time invest in the studio recordings more than before.        

Geovanni Fakkas is 33 years old, married and a father of two; 11 years old Jeanette and 9 years old Sadek. 

He and his wife Antoinette have been struggling for long to provide a decent living for their kid, since their losses during the Syrian war were massive.

When Geovanni started his family in 2007, he was living with his parents, he didn’t have his own house. Two years passed and with the birth of his second child, he was able to move out to an apartment in Sheikh Maksoud with the help of the church.  It was a good start for the growing family, but after just three years the Syrian war started and Geovanni was displaced from Sheikh Maksoud like the majority of the neighborhood’s residents. Having nowhere to go to, they sought refuge at the “frère Mariste” convent who opened their doors to welcome many displaced families from the damaged areas. Although living in dorms with strangers for more than seven months was hard, but that wasn’t the only suffering they had to go through, Geovanni’s job was at risk too, the area of the warehouse where his work place was located was also confiscated by armed groups, and after many negotiations they were able to rescue a part of the merchandise, but the employees like Geovanni knew that they will be dismissed, and indeed in 2014, Geovanni was looking for a job to provide for his family.

In 2015, he started to work on a rented taxi, and after a while he got used to it and actually loved what he did for a living, during the last four years he changed many cars but never changed the profession, even when he traveled to Lebanon for few months ,when his rented house became in the range of snipers and it became extremely dangerous to stay in, his job there involved driving for an installation company. However, Geovanni couldn’t stay away from his city for long.

One of the advantages of this job is the freedom that it gives for the driver and the flexibility of the working hours, which is something Geovanni gets to have if he gets his own car, the thing that will also increase his income and improve the quality of life the family has.     

My name is Salem Shabarekh, I am a 37 years old married man. My wife Rana Fattouh and I got married in 2013, at the beginning of the war in Aleppo. God blessed us with 2 children; Samir and Adam, Samir is 5 years old and Adam is 1 year old. My wife doesn’t work because she has to take care of our little children. My mother Setta lives alone, so my brothers and I are responsible for providing her with everything she needs. I used to work in a company as a sales representative, I started working there in 2005 and the salary was good. when I got married and had children, my family stated growing, so I had to think about another way to get a better income. At the beginning of 2019, I started thinking about leaving the company where I work and opening my own business. In May 2019, I stopped working in the company and started my own business in distributing beauty products for pharmacies. My business is good, but the products that I have are not enough to develop my business and make it better in the future. I need to buy more products for my store in order to have more customers, in addition to a mini pickup truck to distribute the products from my store to pharmacies. This project will develop my business and make me an independent person, who can take care of his family and mother and provide them with the daily needs of life.

Every business related to electrical devices suffered immensely during the Syrian war. 

One of the first targets of the armed groups to paralyze the industrial and civil life, was the electricity generation plant that provides Aleppo city with electricity, thus, in 2012, the city was soaked in total darkness. And like we said every business regarding selling or repairing electrical devices was affected if not stopped, and Antoine’s factory (where he used to work in Al-Arkoub area) was one of them. 

The 52-years-old Antoine used to work in a factory for elevators’ installation and maintenance. He was one of forty workers that were discharged after the market went down, the factory closed and Al-Arkoub became extremely dangerous and deserted.

Through the 23 years of experience in the field of elevators maintenance, Antoine built a good reputation and many acquaintances that call him occasionally for maintenance purposes. But these occasional opportunities are not enough for Antoine and his wife Vivian to live a decent life, neither is the financial aid that the church provides.

Antoine didn’t have a lot of choices; he needed to do something and find a substitute. His expertise in his specialty field was good, but starting his own business in elevator maintenance would need a large amount of money, let alone that there isn’t a demand, he needed to think of something else…. 

The idea crossed his mind about driving, a thing that he enjoys deeply. What if he could have a taxi car? 

It allows him to spend his day driving which he doesn’t mind at all, it’s a good income, considerably a comfortable one since it doesn’t acquire much physical stress, and it is more suitable for Antoine’s age.

He hopes that his new job will upgrade his monthly income, and be sufficient to pay his house rent (which was damaged during the war from the falling shells all around his neighborhood) and to maintain a decent life for him and his wife.

My name is Arshak, I am a 57 years old married man and the father of 3 children Roland, Razmik, and Shant. Roland is 33 years old, he travelled to Armenia couple of years ago, Razmik is 29 years old and he was discharged from the military service 4 months ago after serving for almost 8 years. My son Shant is a university student, he works in a restaurant in the afternoon after attending the university lectures. I used to work in an area called Zerbeh. I had a workshop with a lathing machine to manufacture parts for the trucks of the farmers in the nearby areas, but in 2013 my shop was damaged by a shell, and my products and machines were stolen. After that incident, my brother bought a machine to fix car pumps for me and I started working on it. Unfortunately, the business was not going well because of the bad economic situation of the country, so we sold the machines. I was unemployed for more than a year. Later I started working in buying and selling car parts. It is not a stable job and I cannot depend on it to provide my family with the all their needs. I want to rent a shop in Der-Hafer in the eastern part of Aleppo and buy a lathing machine and bring back the business that I once had. This project will give me the help to be an independent person again.

Antranik Khalloush is a 31-years-old man, originally from Al-Ghassanieh; a village that is still suffering from the armed conflict of the war. Antranik and his wife Joudy have a 3-years-old boy; George, and the couple are expecting a second child soon. As much as it is exciting to welcome a newborn to the family, it comes with big responsibility for Antranik. Specially that the economic crisis has put its tall on people during the ongoing war. 

Antranik who has been working in a cloth manufacturing workshop for the last two years, is also financially responsible for his parents, since his father is retired with a very modest pension. This type of business has taken a great hit during the war, Antranik felt the challenge. 

Torn between the high costs of livelihood, the monthly house-rent installment, the school fees for little George and solely providing for two families, Antranik made a decision to cut the expenses by moving back with his parents.

Since knowing about the baby, Antranik has been worried about securing a better life for the family. He started thinking what can he do to increase their income. He had some experience in many domains; like the clothing business, hair dressing for approximately eight years, and driving on his friend’s taxi for some while. But the clothing and the hairdressing fields require high expenses to launch which Antranik can’t afford.

The only thing that would truly help him is having a taxi, as an additional source of income for the expanding family. This way even Antranik’s father can help him. It would be life changing for the whole family, and will bring them some peace of mind knowing that they are ready to welcome the newborn child.

Aboud Koudsie is blessed with such a beautiful family consisting of his 28 years old wife Victoire Bedoun, his 2 years old son Gilbert and 1-year old lovely daughter Mira. But life hasn’t been always blissful and easy for this 34-year-old man… From the day he was born he had Polio and muscular dystrophy in his hands and feet due to oxygen deficiency during premature birth. This physical challenge didn’t prevent him from working in the field of spare parts in Al-Ramose from 2004 till 2014, but when the war struck the city in 2012, Al-Ramouse became a very dangerous zone and the possibility of proceeding the work there became none-existent so he managed to find a job working on a power generator in Al-Hamadanie .However today after the city is gradually resupplied with electricity he is once again going to be out of his job, leaving him relying on the aid provided by the church but that’s barely enough. To top all those struggles, the family had to move out from their own house in Al-Midan ( a neighborhood that suffered severely from bomb shell raids during war time) after one of those shells hit the adjoined building, and their house was damaged. The displacement of the family to live with Aboud’s in-laws wasn’t the only hardship they had to go through, unfortunately his wife had a miscarriage after those tragic bombshell events. Today Aboud is thinking about taking advantage of an experience he once had working on a taxi for approximately a year. The combination of experience, persistence and hardworking values that would make it possible for this young family to live a decent life and repair their house a step at a time, and most importantly, restore their hope...

Ibrahim Jeghel has a long experience in the food business.

In 2000, he rented a shop in Al-Sheikh-Maksoud area, in a busy industrial neighborhood selling a variety of sandwiches and cold beverages. For twelve years, things were going good for him. But when the whole area of Al-Sheikh-Maksoud was taken and deserted, Ibrahim left everything there even the equipment he owns.

Since then, Ibrahim started working on-and-off as a chef in many restaurants. It is exhausting for the 50-years-old to start his shift in the afternoon, and stay until after midnight, but he had to take the job because he lives with his 85-years-old mother and 18 years-old daughter, whom he is financially responsible of.

The village they come from was controlled by the armed groups, the olive trees planted in the family’s farmland were cut down, and they don’t know anything about their house. The poor mother tried to stay there but soon she figured it was not possible.

Today, Ibrahim’s daughter Sareen lives with her father and grandmother, she has just applied for engineering department in Aleppo university and is now waiting for their reply.At the same time, she is looking for a job to contribute in the family income, especially that the cost of the livelihood living is getting higher and her grandmother has a lot of medicines to take; from blood-pressure and sugar-regulator pills and treatment for her knees, which is very expensive nowadays.

It’s time for Ibrahim to regain his business and open his own shop like he used to do before the war. This time he chose a busy location in “Telephone Hawaae”; an area full of workshops and warehouses. He’s been studying the markets’ needs. He is thinking about serving some new types that aren’t served in the existing sandwiches shops; like Western style sandwiches for example, that way he ensures a good customer flow, of course he is ready to put all the effort and the hard work to success. 

Sarkis Nazaret went through a long series of losses; his house and shop were in Bustan Al-Basha and his workshop in Al-sheikh Najjar have all been seized by the armed groups who entered the city of Aleppo and took control over the majority of the city.

The hardest moments when they had to flee from their home, afraid for their lives, leaving everything behind, they were devastated. Sarkis took his wife Mirna and daughter Anna-Maria to his cousin’s house who opened his house to host them for a while until they find a place to stay. After a while Sarkis went back hoping that he can pack their stuff and check up on his shop, but he saw all the destruction and the robbery and unfortunately wasn’t allowed to take anything with him. Back then the church helped Sarkis’s family by giving them a house to stay in for three years. 

Sarkis started spending from his Savings in order to live. The war was going on endlessly the three years passed quickly, he had to find another house to rent. His savings too were about to expire. Mirna encouraged her husband to take the risk and try to start over this time from the scratch, and that’s exactly what Sarkis did. It was extremely difficult but he made it, he rented a shop in Al-Midan near his house, and equipped it with second hand machinery; since buying new ones was very expensive, and the work started to flow.

When we visited him, he passionately told us about what he used to manufacture in his workshop before the war, he even showed us a brake-friction pads model, he used to manufacture and had his own brand with the initials of the family names; Sarkis, Mirna, Anna-Maria (S.M.A) of course this is not possible for him now in his current workshop, since his work is limited due to the lack of machinery, he needs the capital to start this kind business and the raw materials.

The old and limited machinery are an obstacle in the way of Sarkis’s business improvement, that’s why he needs to purchase a new metal lathe machine, which will enable him to produce a larger variety of metal pieces on the customers’ request and the market demands and hopefully one day his business will prosper and expand to what it was before the war.

My name is Fadi Makdiss, I am 35 years old, engaged to Helen Kahla. I live with my mother, father and brother. My father Paul is 70 years old; he is very sick and unable to work. My mother Louseen is 56 years old, she spends her time at home taking care of my father. My brother George is 32 years old and he works as a DJ in parties, he is engaged to be married very soon. I have a college degree in psychology, I also did many courses on computers and I taught this subject in schools for some time but I always had another interest that I felt very drawn to. I play music on a keyboard piano in parties and churches, I have been doing this job since 2009 and I have great experience in this field. I usually rent a keyboard to use it in my work because I don’t have one, but this leaves me with a very low percentage of the profits that I usually get from events. In addition, a lot of people refuse to hire me for their parties when they know that I do not have my own equipment. I applied at the Hope Center for a keyboard type “payxpro”. I want to have my own keyboard to work on to be an independent person who can build a career and start a family.