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

Thank you to our sponsors for helping SCM make this event happen! More sponsor information to be added soon!

SCM was able to distribute quite a few gifts for Eid to refugees living in Jordan. Clothes were purchased with your donations at Sears store closing down, and we were able to get pants, tops, dresses, shoes, undergarments, coats, socks, and more.

One of our regular and generous supporters, Mr. Zine Badissy, owns Global Inflight Products, a company that supplies the airline industry with utensils and serving ware, blankets, pillows, etc. They donated serving ware and utensils that that we were able to send in our last container to Jordan, and were distributed to refugees so they can enjoy a meal or tea and coffee with brand new plates, cups, and silverware.

Many other items were distributed as well, and we want to thank everyone who donated, helped load the containers, and continue to support our mission. You helped to make this Eid special for so many who have lost nearly everything in Syria’s civil war. Below are a few pictures sent to us from our distribution team in Jordan.

We want to thank everyone who came out in the rainy weather on Saturday and volunteered or donated to our clothing drive held in partnership with MAPS in Redmond. There are some news stories about the event that you might be interested in, and they can be found on our In The News page  https://www.scmmedicalmissions.org/in-the-news/ 

Without all our volunteers and donors, SCM would not be able to get the supplies the Syrians are in desperate need of. Your donations are turned in to cash and used to by medications, medical and humanitarian supplies, and more. Thank you again! We will let you know when we schedule our next drive!

HOPE BOX PROJECT- YOU PACK, WE DELIVER
Our Refugee Hope Box project allows you to pack a box with supplies for a refugee child or family and send it to our office, where it will be loaded into our next container going to Jordan. Once in Jordan our volunteers will distribute the boxes to refugee families where they are needed most. We encourage families, schools and community groups to use the Hope Box activity as a way to build awareness about the plight of refugee children and start dialogue about refugee children. Fill out the custom packing slip to mark whether the box is for a refugee mother/baby, a refugee girl, or a refugee boy as well as the target age of the recipient. Please note shipping to our office is at your expense.

WE DO NOT ACCEPT USED CLOTHING DONATIONS IN THE BOXES. Please do not include the following items: damaged items, food, candy, protein bars, used socks/underwear/personal hygiene or toiletries, medicine, essential oils, alcohol, breakable or glass items, war related or violent toys (guns or knives), expired or perishable food.

This is a great class project or church group project. Families wanting to help can make it a holiday project and the checklists make it easy to organize the project. Just choose which category of box you want to make, then collect the items on the list. Once you have the box filled, seal it up and send it to us. Be sure to include a personal note to the recipient with words of friendship, encouragement and hope. You can help brighten someone’s day by putting one, or more, of these boxes together.

Print the checklist and mailing label below and get started today. And be sure to share this with all your friends and family! Happy Holidays!

Hope Box Mailing label

HOPE BOX CHECKLIST

As an organization that is dedicated to helping people affected by unrest and natural disaster, SCM could no longer stay on the sidelines as the people of Puerto Rico continued to suffer, months after hurricane Maria devastated much of their island. We want to help our fellow American citizens in any way we can, so we have volunteers in Puerto Rico providing humanitarian and medical aid where it is most needed. You can donate to help in Puerto Rico on our Donate page.

Our humanitarian volunteer is Rasha Abousalem, who led our educational programs in Greece in 2016. Dr. Peter Houck is our medical volunteer. We are helping them get supplies and supporting their efforts in Puerto Rico as much as we can.

We have had an update from Dr. Houck. He has been working in a hospital near San Juan, and while the hospital is up and running and treating people, it is running on generator power. He says the worry now is that the generators which are supposed to be for temporary emergency use will wear out and break down much sooner than they normally would due to their constant use as the main power supply for the hospital. Unfortunately SCM is not in a position to buy new industrial generators, but it does highlight the ongoing problems the people are facing on the island. We will be helping get some medications that are needed that he will distribute as we get them to him.

Rasha has sent us numerous photos and updates about what she has been doing since she has been there, and she is working with a local church group that has provided trucks and a bus to help with the distribution of food supplies she purchased. They purchased the following items for 100 families in the city of Yabucoa:

*20lb bag of rice
*Four (1 liter) water bottles
*One 6 pk can of beans
*Two boxes of milk
*Two cans of tuna
*One bag of bananas (2 hands)
*One family size bag of cereal
*One or Two pks of baby wipes

The next day, Rasha and her team visited 2 towns up and in the mountains, traveling by a rented Jeep. She says there have been a lot of landslides there, and still no power or water…. And no FEMA… only smaller groups, especially church volunteers who come primarily in the weekends. She will be doing one bigger distribution and a smaller one in 2 towns tomorrow. We will update you on that when we receive her report.

The photo gallery is of photos Rasha has sent us recently.