An elderly man at the Za’atari refugee camp, located near Mafraq, Jordan. Photo by: ACT Alliance/Paul Jeffrey
The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF) has contributed $20,000 to assist about 5,000 Syrian families in the Qalamoun area who have been displaced by the ongoing violence in their country.
The money will help fund a Canadian Foodgrains Bank project that will provide food to these families for five months, said a statement by PWRDF, the Anglican Church of Canada’s development and relief agency.
About four million people are in need of humanitarian assistance in Syria and more than 700,000 refugees have sought shelter in neighbouring countries such as Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, according to the UN News Centre. The number is expected to rise with the escalation of the conflict, the centre said, citing that about 40,000 new refugees have arrived in Jordan in January. “In December the UN estimated that the numbers of Syrian refugees would reach more than 1.1 million by June. It is now predicting this figure will be reached much earlier,” it added.
More than 60,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed as a result of violence triggered by an uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2011.
Last August, PWRDF provided $30,000 to help fund a project that assisted 7,000 Syrian families who have fled the violence and sought safety as refugees. PWRDF’s response was part of an appeal by ACT (Action by Churches Together) Alliance, of which it is a member. The assistance included food, hygiene kits and bedding, and health, education and psycho-social support.
“As Syria’s civil war drags on, those who have fled the violence for neighbouring countries face an increasingly difficult time surviving as winter storms bring snow and freezing temperatures to much of the region,” reported ACT Alliance’s Paul Jeffrey.
“People are sleeping in the streets, unable to fulfill their basic needs, and there is a fear that the suffering will be exacerbated by the harsh winter and protracted conflict. Humanitarian aid should be rapidly scaled up with a massive increase of funding. Currently, the efforts remain severely underfunded,” added John Nduna, general secretary of ACT.
To donate to this relief effort:
Online
You can designate your online donation for “Syria Response.”
By Phone
For credit card donations, contact:
Jennifer Brown
416-924-9192 ext. 355; 1-866-308-7973
Please do not send your credit card number by email or fax.
By Mail
Please make cheques payable to “PWRDF,” mark them for “Syria Response” and send them to:
The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund
The Anglican Church of Canada
80 Hayden Street
Toronto, Ontario M4Y 3G2
PWRDF Donations Contact:
Jennifer Brown
416-924-9192 ext. 355; 1-866-308-7973
PWRDF Partnership Program Manager:
Elsa Tesfay
416-924-9199 ext. 206; 1-866-308-7973