Earlier this year, 15-year-old Mohammad was reunited with his family with help from the ICRC’s Restoring Family Links program after being separated from them for seven months. Mohammad, originally from the southern Syrian city of Daraa, was visiting his grandfather in Lebanon when the fighting in his hometown intensified, forcing the rest of his family to flee to Al-Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan. Mohammad’s story is just one of many emerging from the millions of Syrians displaced by the on-going conflict.
Mohammad is finally reunited with his family at the Al-Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan. Photo credit: ICRC
While the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is continuing to urge the parties involved in the hostilities in Syria to spare civilians, during the past two years, millions of Syrians have fled their home in search of safety. Neighbouring countries such as Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon are now host to an ever increasing number of Syrian refugees.
This week, in response to appeals by the Red Cross and the UN, the Canadian government announced an additional $115 million in funding for humanitarian aid in both Syria and neighbouring countries to provide urgently needed assistance such as food, clean water and sanitation, emergency health care and shelter as well improve resiliency in host countries where services such as health care are being taxed by this influx of refugees.
Red Cross and Red Crescent societies have been assisting Syrians living in host countries in a variety of ways. One example is this cash program in Jordan which helps support the refugees who are struggling to meet the basic needs of their families such as food and rent, after leaving everything behind in Syria. Here’s a video that explains how the program works.