“I work as a humanitarian out of responsibility to help my own people” – Kinan, PIN Syria

Despite the shelling in Aleppo, we did not leave at first. We had always lived in Aleppo! However, in 2013 it was no longer safe and we had to move to another neighbourhood; we were lucky my family had another home at that time and it was safe to move. I stopped working as a lawyer.

Everyone in Aleppo city was impacted by the conflict, especially because of shelling and insecurity. Almost everyone was forced into displacement and had to leave their homes many times. In just two years, I had to move ten times to escape shelling and find a secure place.  

Anyone who recently graduated as a lawyer would dream of continuing their studies, opening their own firm, buying their own home and securing a future, right? At that time, those were my priorities… But year after year, and particularly after 2013, this dream became more and more blurry until it turned to an illusion.

In 2013, all I could dream of was to find a safe refuge to settle in order to protect my family. Since then, a lot of people could not continue working, losing their livelihoods and being driven into poverty. We did our best to raise awareness among the people who remained in Aleppo and we established voluntary local aid charities. We used to fundraise from the few rich people who remained in the city and give money to those more in need. We used to work on the solidarity principle as we had no external funding resources. At first, I volunteered as a humanitarian worker and my colleagues and I managed to help lots of people. At the beginning, we used to receive money from people in our same neighbourhood but later many businessmen and people living outside Syria started sending us money. There were very few humanitarian organizations working in Aleppo at that time. 

In 2014 I had the opportunity to work with an NGO supporting the civil court and we were in charge of making sure that the documents of people’s properties including homes and lands were safe and well organized. This organization enhanced lawyers to do this job and I was lucky to perform this kind of job. 

In 2016 things changed completely: there was a campaign in the city and heavy shelling was on a daily basis. During the first days of the siege, my wife gave birth to our first baby and it was very exhausting for us, as baby milk and nappies started to be expensive and barely available. Those who had some money could manage but the majority of the people suffered from lack of items and the expensive prices. The siege lasted for six months. Although it was not a very long period compared to other cities that were besieged, it was a big problem since there were many people still living in the city and limited goods available in the market which started to run out quickly.  

Within a month, I moved between three homes because of shelling, when my little son was six months old. We were under siege and the most basic things including vegetables, baby milk and nappies were simply not available. I left Aleppo on the 17th of December 2016. Although I was happy [to leave], we all were sad at the same time since we were leaving home, leaving everything behind! I had hope that I would not have to leave until the very last minute.

“I work as a humanitarian out of responsibility to help my own people”

Date: Aug 12, 2020   Place: Syria   Author: PIN   

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Continuously increasing needs

I applied for a Food Vouchers Assistant vacancy at People in Need in June 2017 and I started working in July 2017. My colleagues and I were the link between benefactors who provided aid and those in need. My interest was first to have a job that enabled me to help others and in the second place to have a job to subsist my family. I work as a humanitarian out of solidarity and for a sense of responsibility to help my own people.

Very recently we had a project to deliver tents to displaced people, and I assisted my colleagues in distributing and installing tents for those displaced during the offensive last winter.  It is very difficult to see how those people were living in dignity in their own homes and, all of a sudden, they lost everything and turned into displacement, looking for a tent to be donated by someone or some organization. We saw many cases of several families all living and sharing the same tent. They would put a blanket or a mat to separate the tent into two smaller parts for the two families.  

We first made an assessment in many camps with the Monitoring and Evaluation staff, then we selected one with many overcrowded tents, where poverty was prevalent and there were huge needs. I noticed their suffering had multiple reasons why. They had no money to rent a home and had to live in a tent. Having no money and no source of income meant also that they almost couldn’t secure their most basic needs including rice, bulgur and sugar. On top of that, food inflation added a huge burden. And then, the Coronavirus pandemic…  

The main challenge at work is the continuously increasing needs. Numbers of orphans and widows are always growing. It’s very hard to realise that we cannot always reach them all.

Hardships and problems have taught me a lot along the way. I learnt a lot from dealing with beneficiaries. I need to be cautious when talking to people in need, they can be very nervous because they are in a vulnerable situation. At work, we need to remember that regardless of their situation, people should be respected, treated with dignity and we need to listen to their needs and remember their free will. I have greatly improved my communication skills in dealing with beneficiaries. I often have to confort them in their suffering with good words and a respectful attitude. After several years, I have come to understand people’s mentalities and how they think and react in dreadful situations, which helps me to support them better.

Now I live in Afrin city in a small home with my wife and three children. It has been challenging having to adapt with every displacement, moving, travelling long distances in addition to children's schooling.

My parents loved that I worked as a lawyer. It was difficult for them to accept my work as a humanitarian worker but, day after day, as peoples’ needs started to grow, it was everyone’s role to help others and my parents started to respect and welcome my job. It is a great honour and I am very grateful to be delivering aid to those who really need.

*Real name changed for security reasons