"Rescue teams are leaving and aid is not reaching Syria, but Salesian missionaries continue to be at the side of the population"

"Syria is in a situation of extreme poverty because international aid is not arriving and rescue work has been suspended, but when the rescue teams leave, the Salesian missionaries remain at the side of the population and keep their doors open", assures a young volunteer at the Don Bosco House in Aleppo. Without electricity, in the middle of winter and in sub-zero temperatures, with no possibility of buying fuel and with food prices skyrocketing due to shortages, Syrian citizens in the north of the country are living in a dire situation.  

"Every day, around 500 people - around 100 of them minors - take refuge with us, and we provide them with everything we can: breakfast, food, blankets, warm clothes, mats...", recalls Alejandro León, head of the Salesians in the Middle East. The doors of Don Bosco Aleppo have been open 24 hours a day from day one. In addition to accommodation, they are distributing food, warm clothes, medicines, hygiene kits and offering medical check-ups, psychosocial help and support for repairing minor damage to homes. 

Thousands of people depend on international aid that is being delayed.  

Salesian Missions is asking the international community to work so that the most affected population can receive support as soon as possible. Until now they had nothing to eat, now they have no home either. 

In addition, "we try to make sure that the children play, that there is music at certain times to share and celebrate life", says Mateo Colmenares, a Salesian volunteer in Aleppo. "We are aware that after the initial shock, with time comes pain, uncertainty, wondering what is going to happen to their lives, and we also want to begin to respond to all of this in order to heal hearts," he continues. 

More than 37,000 people dead, more than 80,000 people hospitalised and almost a million people in need of food are some of the appalling and growing numbers left by the two major earthquakes that struck southern Turkey and northern Syria a week ago. The Asian country, on the verge of 12 years of war, is experiencing a humanitarian emergency that is difficult to describe due to international sanctions and blockades, which make it impossible for material aid to arrive, and with more than 5.3 million people left homeless. 

Salesian Missions has launched the "Humanitarian Emergency in Syria" campaign to send financial aid so that Salesian missionaries in Syria can cope with this situation. Thanks to the Emergency Fund, we have already sent the first aid to purchase basic necessities.