The situation is dire in Lebanon. I talked to one of our people that went to assess the situation and the stories he has to tell are heartbreaking. One such story is about a woman that works in a hospital and gets paid 1 million lira a month, which is equal to $25. Her husband is making $20 a month. How do they raise a family on this?

This story is indicative of what the middle class in Lebanon is going through, so imagine what the poor are going through. They are lucky to eat one meal a day and that does not include any meat. The babies have no formula, and they are drinking a water and sugar mixture and are at risk of severe malnutrition.

The Lebanese currency has been so devalued that it is hardly worth anything now, and it is getting worse. Nothing in the history of Lebanon has been this bad, even during the civil wars. We are witnessing a collapse of civil society with critical infrastructure breaking down – electricity is not regularly available and is very sporadic, and water treatment is on the brink of collapse, putting everyone that uses a public water supply at risk.

The SCM volunteers are all committed to helping everyone they can on the ground here and overseas. We have been able since the beginning of the crisis to help:

1. Two airlifts in partnership with the Jordan Hashemite Charities and the Jordan military, we sent two cargo planes of medical supplies and humanitarian goods to Beirut. These were distributed by our people so we know that they went to the people that needed them
2. Food parcels distributed in Zahle and Saida several times this year
3. Cancer medications worth $20K delivered and distributed
4. Donation to Red Cross Lebanon $250K
5. Funds were sent for emergency and surgical supplies
6. Our rep in Jordan flew into Lebanon a number of times with excess luggage of oxygen condensers, solar lanterns and other items from the warehouse in Madaba for distribution

We really need your help more now then ever. We just need as many people as possible to please make a contribution, no matter how much, everything will help. We are trying to raise $50K to get food and other supplies to the people. If we send $5000 that will buy food for one month for 200 families of 4, but that is not enough.

Help us help them. Thank you.

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This quote is from an article in Forbes (https://www.forbes.com/sites/tatianakoffman/2020/07/09/lebanons-currency-crisis-paves-the-way-to-a-new-future/) from just over a year ago, and right before the blast at the Port of Beirut. The financial situation is just as true today as it was then, and worse.

This crisis has been escalating for a few years now, reaching a peak where the government soon won’t be able to keep the drinking water safe. As the economy collapses, the people need our help even more. Please donate today.

Our SCM representative in Lebanon, George Nasser, along with our Regional Director Basel Sawalha and George’s family took quilts, baby supplies, solar lanterns and food up to the Bekka Valley where the weather is decidedly wintery. Many are living without electricity, and food and medications are in short supply or have had the prices raised to untenable levels.

SCM is committed to helping the people of Lebanon that are suffering, not from war or natural disaster (although we did send a lot of aid right after the explosion in Beirut to help with the recovery), but from an economic collapse in their country.

Thank you for your continued support. We hope you can make a donation, any amount is helpful, by the end of the year.

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SCM has been working hard this last month helping the people in the Syrian, Afghani, and Iraqi communities in the Pacific NW with rental assistance, utilities, and food. Our doors are open, and we try and help as many people as we possibility can with your assistance. Thanks to your donations, we were able to pay out almost $35,000 in July in this effort. This is keeping families in their homes and food on the table.

We have also been able to send funds inside Syria for medical and food supplies to the areas of Idlib and Aleppo. We had a food drive for Eid in Jordan, as well as a distribution of humanitarian goods. We worked with our representative in Samos Greece to supply refugees there with a new emergency medical clinic tent that was donated to us by Direct Relief of California. We also sent funds to purchase firewood so the refugees in Samos do not need to burn plastic to cook their food.

We have been able to help some from the LGBT community in Europe to move to other areas that are safer for them and applying for their paperwork to take asylum in Canada. We have four people right now we are working with from Syria. We have teamed up with the Men’s Chorus in Seattle to help us with this.

The Eid, which was on the 31st of July, was a happier celebration for about 50 local refugee families to whom we were able to give Eid meal supplies. Eid presents (donated toys) were also delivered or picked up at our office for over 100 children.

We are still trying to find jobs for some refugees that were laid off and having a hard time getting back up on their feet. This has been a difficult time for all. If you know of any jobs please do let us know. Also, remember we are still taking monetary donations for rental assistance. We have no idea when this pandemic will end, but until it does stay safe wear a mask and pray for all that are still needing assistance.

~Rita

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Donated goods were distributed for Eid in the town of Naour, south of Amman. 35 families received items that included clothing, quilts, shoes, handmade toys, and more. There were 5 pregnant women, and there were also Jordanian families in need included in the distribution as well as Syrian refugee families.

Thank you to our donors, including Quilters Beyond Borders, Dolls of Hope, and everyone else who has generously donated funds and supplies. We couldn’t do this without you!

SCM did a distribution on May 21st during Iftar, the meal during Ramadan that breaks the fast at sunset. These children are suffering cancer, so it was very special to be able to give them a gift to help lighten their spirits.

Hi everyone!

Just got back from Jordan with a group that joined SCM for a tour of the country and also for distribution to the Syrian refugees. This is the first time that we have done a combined trip and it turned out really very well!

We visited our Trauma center (Happiness Again/Malki Center) one morning and then another day we visited with a Syrian artist that had lived in Zaateri camp but has recently moved out to downtown Amman to help Syrian children. He teaches them drawing in a way to express themselves about the new life they are leading and how they left Syria and the trauma they are going through.

On Friday we went to two different camps to the south of Amman – an area called Luban – that are not helped by any other NGO. While there we distributed items of clothing, scarves, hats and gloves, baby items, diapers, walkers, wheelchairs, hygiene kits etc. The people at the camp were so happy to see Americans coming in and handing out the items and talking to them and just letting them know that they have not been forgotten, even though this refugee crisis is going on into the eighth year. The group members talked to individual refugees through translators and found that in the one village many of the Syrians were from the same area of Hama and wanted to be with people they knew.

The people we talked to had been in this particular camp for five years. They had moved from Zaateri after being there for one year and some only for a couple of weeks. They did not feel safe in Zaateri with its tens of thousands of people. They also knew that spies from the Syrian government were coming in and checking to see who was talking about the Assad regime and then going back to Syria and checking their families and what they were doing. A lot of people felt more comfortable, and safer with their kids in smaller encampments of about 50 to 100 families from the same region in Syria. We talked to one lady that was 60 years old that had come with her family of 25 people, walking for 5 days with only the clothes on their backs. She wants to go back and die in her homeland, but it is not the time. They had 13 people living in one tent. We saw kids that had cerebral palsy and other conditions going without medical treatment – and adults, too. We did meet men and women that needed walkers and wheelchairs that we were able to supply to them.

During this trip I went to the warehouse of the Jordan Hashemite Charities that works with us in getting our containers into the country through customs and inspections. They told me that SCM is the second largest distributor in Jordan. I was truly shocked by this. I know that we send out a lot of containers – last year we got in 13 containers in the year, these are 40 ft. I really thought that we were way down on the list since the big NGO like Mercy Corp, IRC, Islamic Relief and others have more of a budget then we do, but no we were it. It is because of all our donors that continue making this happen, and I wanted to let you know that if it wasn’t for you none of this would be possible. We have an incredible group of followers that lets us help people in need.

We are doing another trip in October like this one that just ended, seeing the cultural and historical sites of Jordan and also doing distributions to the refugees. Please check our Caravan-Serai Tours website for more information about the trip. I hope you will be able to join us. It is an eye-opening experience and if you want to talk to anyone that has been on a trip let us know and we can refer you to other clients.

Thank you for all your trust in us and for helping make this a better world. We do this one individual at a time.

~Rita