Summer new arrival Refugees multiplied Saturday! 61 adults with many excited children from 40 families came for our special supplies and the heavy bag per family of more than 25 different hygiene supplies. We were amply ready for the total 160 refugees we served on their winding road.

A bumper crop of refurbished adult and kids bikes with new helmets and locks brought lots of joy. Seeing Afghan women and girls who can now ride energized our 9 Volunteers and 4 noon reinforcement helpers. So did the 20 laptop computers we gave in canvas satchels.

It was a 3-way tie for Best with our Sewing Station – 10 new, donated sewing machines, and several used machines meant we could almost meet the prize most Afghan women sought. With lots of generously donated bolts of fabric, scissors, spools of thread, needles and sewing notions, I could have hung out there to enjoy the masked smiles had I not been checking in so many lovely Refugee Brothers and Sisters!
Thanks to our four Afghan Translators and big hearted Volunteers who made this day possible. Caring Fairwood UMC Volunteers and others join SCM Medical Missions to surpass the offerings each week with surprise furnishings placed outside for new arrivals: dishes, cookware, glasses, platters, house furnishings, linens, rugs, strollers, etc. Much needed and appreciated.

The other important service here is listening to the Refugees’ resettlement concerns and sharing recommendations. This wasn’t built into the Center’s plan, but it’s grown among all Volunteers to ease the Afghans’ burdens. Whether for job searching, transportation, health contacts, rent questions, or problems, Volunteers make visits and continue helping families after the Center closes. It’s reassuring that the Refugees can call kind locals with their concerns. Though Summer’s arrival will soon conclude our assistance of supplies, we hope our impact improves many days to come for many Refugees!

So on we go. . . .

~Pamela, SCM Coordinator

Support SCM refugee programs by donating here: https://www.scmmedicalmissions.org/donations-listing/

Neither Easter nor Ramadan slowed the stream of new Afghan Refugee parents and children. We were ready with provisions for Friday’s 20 families comprising 88 refugees of 42 adults and their 46 children. Met by 15 Volunteers, SCM Founder Rita and Translator Khayam, 32 parents with 14 kids came in the Center to receive lots of hygiene essentials, school supplies, computers, sewing machines and surprise Eid Celebration kits for children.

While we offer loads of clothes, when I think of the collections of “hygiene essentials” and the “Donors” (individual, nonprofit and corporate), it floods me with gratitude. This is kindness pouring out week after week because people really care about the plight and needs of the Refugees.

Our essentials for whole families: diapers; underwear; socks; baby wipes, wash, lotion and shampoo; adult body wash and bar soap; feminine sanitary pads; shampoo and conditioner; brushes and combs; toothpaste, toothbrushes and floss; deodorant; razors; reader glasses; nail clippers; cleaning products – bottles of liquid dish and laundry detergent, and cleanser. Sometimes we even have nail polish, cosmetics or jewelry to make the day a little brighter for the women.

This Hygiene Corner bulges with special extras: handmade quilts for the children, fabric “dolls for hope”; a big assortment of school supplies, color books, and often backpacks. Just past this station is a large toy area that includes stuffed animals and books that entertain children while parents get their “toys” – bicycles and helmets, laptops, or sewing machines, notions and fabric, depending on what Donors have sent us.

Committed Donors are Bicycle Rescue for Youth that serves Maple Valley and Issaquah, Covington Kiwanis Club, Sharing Wheels from Everett, Mel Nason’s Holy Spokes and Harvey’s Bike Shop in Lynnwood. Essentials First often helps us with hygiene products and joined in furnishing Eid Celebrations kits. For desperately needed laptops, Starbucks donated generously. Early learning KidsCentre in Seattle has showered us with school supplies and backpacks.

Equally impressive are places of worship who regularly contact us with help. This giving is matched by individuals who surprise us by quietly bringing needed items and gift cards, so we can replenish to meet the needs of all new arrival Afghan Refugees every week.

We can only say Thank You, Thank You to all who give and volunteer. Don’t forget them. And, don’t forget the needs of the Refugees!

~Pamela Van Swearingen, Coordinator

As the end of Ramadan approaches, SCM has been busy distributing food, supplies, clothing and toys to local refugee families and to those in Jordan and Lebanon. Thank you to all who have donated and to our teams in Lebanon and Jordan. Our teams organize and conduct the distributions so SCM can help as many people as possible. It’s not too late to donate for Ramada, so please visit our Donation page.

Here are just a few photos from the various distributions.

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Ramadan begins next month on the 12th of April. Please join us in providing food to refugees here in the Seattle area as well as in Jordan and Lebanon. We will be distributing packages of food for families of 4-5 that will have basic necessities such as salt, sugar, beans, pasta, cooking oil, tinned meat, tea, and more, and will feed them for a month.

Ramadan Food Drive Goal: $10,000

We have already begun distributions of clothing for refugees living in Jordan and women from Daraa and also from Damascus came to our warehouse to pick out clothing for themselves. It was Mother’s Day in the Middle East so we had a special distribution for them. Thank you for your donations for our shipping containers as well as monetary donations that enabled this to happen. Don’t forget we have another container going out soon and you can check or previous post for the needed items for that container.

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SCM is committed to helping the people of Lebanon following the blast in Beirut in August 2020, and the continuing economic crisis the country is embroiled in. The tiny Mediterranean country is host to over a million Syrian refugees, thousands of Iraqi refugees, and nearly a half million Palestinian refugees, and has the highest per-capita ratio of refugees to citizens – a quarter of the people in Lebanon are refugees.

Lebanon has been suffering an economic collapse over the last year and a half, with its banking system being called a Ponzi scheme and collapsing, 45% of the population living in poverty, defaulting on international loans and a credit rating akin to Venezuela’s (very bad). Gulf countries have provided some aid but that is beginning to dry up. There are rolling blackouts or just no electricity at all, especially away from the urban center of Beirut.

To make matters worse, Lebanon could get some of its needed power supply from neighboring Syria but the US recently enacted the Caesar Act that sanctions any person, business, or country doing business with the Al-Assad regime, and Lebanon fears buying electricity would result in the US placing sanctions on Lebanon, something the ravaged country could hardly survive. So for now, in the middle of winter, people are living without electricity. This is particularly bad in the mountains and Bekka Valley. It’s cold and snowy, the nights are longer, and people can’t really do anything but hunker down and stay warm in their homes (which could be a tent, a temporary building, or a cold concrete brick structure!)

Another looming crisis for Lebanon is the fight over the UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) program that provides food and other types of assistance to the Palestinian refugees. Israel and the UAE are working to get it shut down, and the program, which has been running in the red due to budget shortfalls and non-payment of countries like the US, is in dire financial stress.

While SCM is not a big organization, we are able to help 100’s of families with your support. We are providing LuminAID solar lanterns and phone chargers, food, and medicines but we need to get them more. The need is so great that anything we do is a drop in the bucket compared to what the people need. We provide food because the UN food programs have been cut way back. We provide blankets and solar lanterns because no one else is doing that in certain areas. We provide medications to help people who have seen the prescription drugs they need skyrocket in price or disappear off the pharmacy shelves all together.

Please make an end of the year, tax deductible donation to help us continue our work in Lebanon. Your donations go directly to help the people of Lebanon. https://www.scmmedicalmissions.org/donate/

SCM is going to help refugees in Jordan get face masks to protect them from the coronavirus. In doing so, we will also be helping a women’s cooperative near Madaba of seamstresses made up of Syrian refugees and low income Jordanian women.

Jordan has done a great job of locking down the virus but until there is a vaccine in widespread global use, everyone will need to remain vigilant to keep the virus at bay. Refugees are especially vulnerable as they often live in situations with extended family and it is hard to social distance. Living conditions can make rigorous hygiene challenging. We have been sending and purchasing hygiene supplies but have not, so far, been distributing masks. With your help, we will begin distributing reusable, washable cloth masks in our regular distributions of other humanitarian supplies. For $5 we can provide a mask and help the refugees stay safe from the coronavirus and help the seamstresses earn an income to help their families.

Donate here to send masks to refugees.

 

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On another note, Eid al-Adha is coming in just a few days on July 31, 2020. It is the end of the Hajj and is a 4 day celebration. Because of the virus, families won’t be able to celebrate as they usually would, but we want to help the refugee families struggling financially to at least be able to give gifts to the children and have a nice meal. We are collecting new toys for 75 children, ages 1-13 years old, gender neutral. We are also collecting gift cards for local grocery stores so the families can purchase food for a holiday meal. Both items can be sent or dropped off at our office at 3806 Whitman Ave N, Seattle WA 98103. If you are coming by, please call Rita to make sure she is there to meet you.

You can also donate here and we will purchase the food gift cards.

 

Learn more about the Eid in this article from a UK news outlet.

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Our reach is far and wide. We recently helped a Syrian-Palestinian family start a new business in Ecuador, where they had emigrated to because of the war. They had been working but recently lost their jobs due to the pandemic, so they decided to open an Arab restaurant. They are bringing Arab food and culture to their south-American community and we are proud we could help them get back on their feet with their new business.