THANK YOU!

The collected clothes, shoes, bedding and school equipment donated by kind-hearted GulfWeekly readers during Ramadan have been delivered to Syrian refugees.

The much-needed relief aid was taken to desperate families currently residing at the Darashakran refugee camp in Erbil in northern Iraq by our campaign partners DHL Express, the world’s leading logistics company.

As reported, large containers stationed at the Bahrain Rugby Football Club were filled to capacity by campaign supporters and school stationary and messages of love were also put together by pupils of St Christopher’s School and other young readers.

All of the items were handed over to Bahrain-based DHL Express Iraq and Afghanistan staff members who personally delivered them to the refugee camp last week.

Phil Armatage, country manager DHL Express, said: “These donations have really brightened up the lives of families at Darashakran, many of whom are very far from home and suffering under mounting uncertainty about when they will be able to return.

“We are glad to have made a small difference to the lives of the men, women and children who live in the camp, and were especially happy to deliver school supplies donated by children in Bahrain.”

The Darashakran camp currently houses more than 10,000 refugees, the majority of whom are from Qamishliye, a town in northeastern Syria close to the Turkish border.

The camp opened in October 2013, and is spread over one million square metres. The majority of the residents living in Darashakran, which has a planned capacity of around 20,000 residents, are adults although around 2,000 are of school age.

GulfWeekly Editor Stan Szecowka said: “We receive a tremendous response from readers to our community campaigns and were delighted that our first international endeavour achieved such heart-warming support.

“I would like to say a big thank you from the appeal organisers as well as the refugees. YOU have made a real difference.”

Outside safe havens, such as the camp, children keep being recruited as soldiers in the five-year-old conflict as well as being sexually exploited and trafficked, according to a recent report that draws on data collected in the past few years by various agencies.

The war in Syria has killed more than 220,000 people and displaced around half of the population. United Nations aid agencies have described it as one of the worst refugee crises since the Second World War.

The conflict has also pushed thousands of children into the labour force. They now harvest potatoes in Lebanon, work in shops and restaurants in Jordan, bake bread and fix shoes in Turkey and are exposed to multiple hazards in quarries and construction sites in the region, said the report.

Things are likely to get worse as aid agencies cut back on programmes due to lack of funding. World Food Programme, for example, said it will halve the value of food vouchers given to Syrian refugees in Lebanon and may cut all help for 440,000 Syrians in Jordan.

Aid agencies stated that a $4.5 billion appeal to tackle the Syrian refugee crisis in 2015 was less than a quarter funded, putting millions of vulnerable people at risk.