Posted on

as of December 2023

The devastating earthquakes that claimed many lives in the northern part of Syria in February 2023 caused severe destructions and left many people homeless. This prompted Korbgemeinschaft to quickly organize additional emergency support for some of the most terribly hit places.

Warm clothing, mattresses and similar in-kind donations from our humanitarian goods  containers, which had just arrived at the sorting and interim storage in the building of the Bakery of Grace in  Maarouneh, were promptly taken north by local volunteers and distributed there to the desperate people.

The focus of our support activities in 2023 was largely connected to the additional needs in the earthquake-affected areas:

Support for the volunteer teams in the north

  • Provision of money and urgently needed humanitarian goods for fair and controlled distribution by spontaneously formed, Christian-motivated teams of helpers. We are happy to note that these teams involve a large number of young people;
  • Constant exchange with the teams of helpers, documentation of activities, distribution lists, photos, videos, feedback from those affected;
  • Calling for donations and collecting support so that Korbgemeinschaft’s “basket”  of charity keeps being refilled and doesn’t get empty;
  • Advice, mediation and financial assistance in setting up spaces for volunteer work (for packaging of food parcels, etc.) and for dry, safe storage of humanitarian supplies;

Massive intensification of relief goods collection

  • With a focus on warm clothing, warm blankets, bedding, mattresses, robust household goods as well as walking aids and sanitary products for the old and injured, the collection activities were accompanied by our repeated request for financial assistance to cover the significantly increased container shipment costs (meanwhile approx.  EUR 5,000 per 40 feet container);
  • With enormous effort, we have managed to get ten tightly packed containers (eight from Austria, two from Germany) on the way to Syria in 2023;
  • Many items from these containers were distributed in the earthquake-affected areas in the north;
  • A room in the building of the Bakery of Grace in Maarouneh, north of Damascus, is currently used to pre-sort and store the many humanitarian goods from the container shipments. It is a blessing that this building was set up in 2019/2020 thanks to the support of many charitable donors.

Building repairs and renovations (a longer-term effort)

  • Many residential houses, including parish buildings, were severely damaged by the earthquakes. School buildings, kindergartens and churches are also affected. The objective here is to collect donations in 2024, 2025 and probably even longer, so that the most necessary repairs can be carried out, not only those caused by the earthquakes, but also many of the war destructions that have not yet been remedied.
  •  The renovation of the Christian Al-Inayeh school in Aleppo has already been completed in 2023. The school was able to contract the repair work thanks to a direct donation received from a major aid organization. On account of rapidly rising prices, the school, however, ran out of funds long before the project was finished. Additional funding from the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, mediated by Korbgemeinschaft, allowed to quickly complete the remaining repair work and to have all the school classed ready for the 400 children of all grades and ages in time for the start of the new school year in the fall.

Statues for the Maronite parish church in Latakia

A very special support project was carried out by the Lower Austrian parish of Strasshof, for the benefit of the Maronite church in Latakia in northern Syria. The earthquakes had left some of the church statues severely damaged and others completely destroyed. Thanks to a spontaneous private initiative, one statue of the Virgin Mary and another statue of St. Joseph with Child were made available, the export approval was obtained from the competent office of the Archdiocese of Vienna, and a suitable wooden box was hand-made to ensure safe shipment. The statues went to Maarouneh in one of the humanitarian containers and will soon be taken to the destination church in Latakia, certainly to the great delight of the believers and of the parish priest.

Various supports for daily survival

  • Emergency packages with basic food as well as hygiene and baby products continued to be organized for particularly needy families; in a number of cases, rent subsidies were granted to prevent homelessness;
  • In special cases of despair, urgent medical interventions and medication were financed or subsidized;
  • For many families, the ever-increasing fees of kindergartens, schools and further education are no longer affordable. We were able to offer subsidies for this purpose in several parishes;
  • The salaries that the church and many other organizations in Syria are able to pay are no longer sufficient for covering the costs of daily life. In order to prevent qualified people from being poached into slightly better paid sectors or even from deciding to emigrate, Korbgemeinschaft managed to get donations for the purpose of supporting such salaries;
  • With the help of 1,500 mass stipends or mass intentions, the situation of 70 priests was alleviated. We were able to arrange a further donation to support the mobility of priests, so that they can perform their pastoral and social tasks in widely scattered parishes.
  • Purchase of two tractors for the cultivation of farm land.  

Social Market (SOMA)

The construction start for this project – planned as an extension above the “Bakery of Grace” – had been delayed due to bureaucratic complications. Construction finally started in mid-August and the shell structure was finished in early December 2023. The local partners are now in the lucky position to have a room in that building available for sorting and storing the humanitarian goods and for preparing packages from the bulk purchases of food and everyday items for onward transport to the parishes. Unfortunately, the poverty situation has not improved and the poor people still need access to everyday goods at lowest possible prices.

Bakery of Grace

  • On account of the unabated poverty, shifting the operation of the Bakery of Grace to the originally planned self-sustainability mode through sales proceeds has not been possible so far.  In order to ensure the availability of good quality bread to combat hunger, especially for the poorest, the price per kilo now amounts to an equivalent of €0.015. There are more and more people who have no money at all for food, including domestically displaced people who lost everything, including the roofs over their heads, in the earthquakes.
  • Korbgemeinschaft was able to contribute the difference between the running costs and the sales proceeds from “donations for bread”. We hope to be able to continue to do so until the economic situation finally improves.
  •  Bakery investment: A special donation for this purpose allowed us to finance repairs, improvements such as the construction of a water storage tank and an oil tank, cleaning machines, a new smoke exhaust, a glass wall to separate the entrance area from the bakery, painting work, new work clothes, a slide for flour sacks, etc.

Continuation of ongoing projects and further project plans

  • Support for church kindergartens and schools (renovations, subsidies for the  salaries of pedagogues);
  •  School materials, school and study grants for children of very poor families;
  • Cooperation for medical help (e.g. pharmacists’ initiative „Apotheker helfen“ etc.); If possible, support for the establishment of several small medication distribution points that should be more readily accessible to the population;
  • Repairs and technical improvements in churches and parish buildings;
  • Support for priests so that they can fulfill their social and pastoral tasks;
  • Support for scout groups and summer camps for children, teenagers and catechists;
  • Establishment of advice centers and career start-up assistance specifically for girls and widowed women;
  • Mediating the donation of used agricultural machinery and/or purchasing new machinery;
  • Mediation of work equipment and tools for small and family businesses;
  • Initiating a social market in Aleppo
  • Agricultural projects with a focus on creating jobs for women (processing and refining of products)
  • Further improvements for the bakery operation

YOUR help

We are grateful for ANY support, be it material or non-material, through donations of money or goods, through ideas, suggestions, the mediation of contacts and, last but not least, through prayer and advocacy.

Given the ongoing need for humanitarian supplies, we are urgently looking for additional helping hands to collect, sort, package, temporarily store and load the relief supplies on offer. Please see the separate menu item “YOUR HELP”.

In the menu item “My donation makes a difference” you will find photos and videos of projects that have been carried out. Please see for yourself how efficiently your donation helps, how it is transformed into bread and other essential goods and support services. Straightforward, on a 1: 1 basis and on an eye level, maintaining the dignity of the recipient and thus committed to the Christian spirit of genuine, compassionate charity.  

We should like to thank particularly the following aid organizations and all the helpers who supported our work in 2023. We hope for your continued support in the future:

  • Archdiocese of Munich and Freising
  • Cathedral Chapter and Metropolitan Chapter of Vienna
  • Catholic Diocese of Stockholm (CDSS)
  • Catholic workers’ movement St. Lantpert, Freising
  • a community in Hungary
  • Foreign-language Catholic communities
  • ICO (Initiative Christian Orient)
  • MA 27 of the City of Vienna
  • Missio Munich (forwarding donations from German friends)
  • Missio Austria as well as one
  • In addition, there have been many initiatives by parishes, collections at birthday parties, a Syria food, culture and information event, voluntary services for and assistance with the collection and transportation of some humanitarian goods.
  • We are also very grateful for the numerous donations in kind, for large and small monetary donations, some of which have been set up as standing monthly orders to Korbgemeinschaft, and for the work and time provided by the volunteers in sorting, packing, labeling and loading the numerous humanitarian goods into the shipping containers.

May God bless you for your compassion!

By admin