We recently did a food distribution in Madaba, Jordan for 100 Iraqi refugees there. Thanks to your support we are able to provide this food assistance to Syrian, Iraqi, and Palestinian refugees in Jordan, as well as Jordanians in need.

What We Carried: Fragments and Memories from Iraq and Syria

We will have copies of this book for sale, with proceeds going to SCM refugee programs. The price is $30 and includes mailing if you need us to send your copy to you. You can also pick up in our office in Seattle for the same price.

The book is a collection of photos and short explanations of the photos of what people carried with them when they left their homes in Iraq and Syria.

Contact our office to order: 206-545-7307

Here is a video telling the story of how this project came to be:

 

Here is another post from Raafia G. 

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The past two days have been a whirlwind and have felt like weeks. Every time I thought I heard the most heartbreaking story another family would arrive with there’s. It’s hard to stay strong for these refugees as they come off the boats from Turkey, but it’s amazing how your body can turn into overdrive and not let your emotions take over.

It’s hard to differentiate who has it worse, because we only know half the story and no idea what else they need to endure. Many of these people have been beaten up, robbed, and have had guns and knives put to them or their families. They have been cheated and lied to in every way. They have been given boats with not enough fuel to last the distance across and given life vests that aren’t even real. They are so desperate to flee their countries, they are buying raft boats from gyro shops in Turkey. They have been told their journey should take twenty minutes, and begin to worry when it’s been hours. They are freezing cold, soaking wet, and terrified. Some have been separated from their families or their families have been killed or died at sea. Everyone is in shock.

We have seen thousands of refugees from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan and migrants from Pakistan, Iran, Somalia, and the Congo. The one thing they all have in common is their sincere gratitude. Each and every one has been constantly thanking us and sending us prayers. They have said that the volunteers they have encountered in Greece have been the kindest people they have ever encountered. They offer to give us any leftover jewelry off their body as tokens of appreciation and love. One grandmother even said to me and my team in Arabic, that if she could give us her eyes or hands or heart she would because that is all she has now, all while sending us constant prayers. The NGOs have been remarkable and I am truly blessed to have this opportunity to be a part of them. ‪#‎SCMHelp4Syrians

More on the unprecedented and disastrous cuts to the World Food Program. Please help by donating $31 to our food drive. For $31 we can provide a package of food basics for a family that will last a month. 

GENEVA — Facing what it described as a severe cash shortfall, the United Nations food aid organization said on Monday that it had been forced to suspend a voucher program that was helping to feed 1.7 million Syrian refugees in neighboring countries.

The suspension by the organization, the World Food Program, was one of the most drastic cutbacks ever by an emergency relief provider in the nearly four-year-old Syrian crisis, raising the prospect of widespread hunger at the onset of winter.

The cutback in aid will affect refugees in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey who receive voucher cards from the program, which work like debit cards so users can buy food in local shops. The same mechanism also provides an economic lifeline to communities struggling to cope with the influx of Syrian refugees that has swelled since the conflict began in 2011.

Continue reading full article by clicking here.

 

 

Below are photos from our warehouse just outside Amman, Jordan. We had our local team there loading a truck with men’s, women’s, and kids coats, nearly 4 tons of clothes in bags, 6-7 boxes of diapers, 2 big boxes sheets and bed pads, 2 boxes of alcohol pads, 6 walkers, and 16 crutches.

These items were distributed with the help of another local organization that helps Jordanians in need as well as the refugees from Syria, Gaza, and Iraq.

See the article written by a Jordanian paper about the day. Click here. You may need to use Google translate to read it in English if it doesn’t come up automatically.  There is another slideshow of photos taken by the reporter and the article says, roughly, the following:

“Ms. Rebecca Malekian, the head of the Initiative Together for the Good, received a large amount of clothing for men, women and children, and a number of sanitary items, medical supplies, and blankets from Mr. Basel Sawalha, the Regional Director for Salaam Cultural Museum, based in the United States, Seattle, Washington. The members of the initiative transferred the packages and tools to the headquarters of the initiative in the Ecumenical Center for the purpose of classification and packaging, in preparation for distribution to needy families of Jordan and Syrian refugees and the Palestinians of Gaza and Syria.“