Edinburgh Charity Helps Syrian Refugees

The plight of the Syrian refugees has touched the hearts of many of people, and here at t. ward shipping we were glad to be able to do our bit to help this worthy cause in September. Local charity Edinburgh Direct Aid – a small voluntary international charity - wanted to ship a container to Beirut for the refugees, and we were delighted to help them. We loaded the 40 foot container ready to be shipped to where it’s needed at the end of September.

"I've not seen piles like this since Kosovo," says EDA founder Denis Rutovitz of the current stock of donated aid.

The shipment contains winter clothing and supplies desperately needed by the refugees. By the time it was ready to ship on 23 September, the charity reported that it had been almost completely filled with supplies donated by the generous people of Edinburgh.

Edinburgh Direct Aid has been carrying out valuable work in Arsal, a small town in the Lebanon that’s close to the Bekaa Valley and the Syrian border. Tensions are very high in the area at the moment because Islamic State is close to the town, even though it’s protected by Lebanese military checkpoints. It’s estimated that Syrian refugees outnumber local residents of the town by three to one, and the situation is becoming critical.



Found this little chap among the donations today - we think he'll make a small somebody, somewhere, very happy

Many children have no access to education in the area, so the charity is trying to support residents and refugees, by expanding refugee access to education in informal Syrian schools. To stop the town’s young adults being driven towards joining Islamic State, the charity is also setting up seven vocational training courses for young Syrians with 30 per cent of the intake being set aside for young Lebanese who also need help. Special workshops are also being set up just for women in the camps to complement some of the vocational training subjects on offer.

It’s hoped that by supporting and helping people in the camps, it will stop them from making the perilous journeys across Europe that have proved so dangerous recently. The charity says; “We do what we can with our very limited funding to offer some hope and opportunity for the 80,000 in this appalling situation. Maybe this will make some of them think twice about making a desperate journey to Europe, a journey they may not survive.”

For more information on the work of Edinburgh Direct Aid, go to their website at:
http://www.edinburghdirectaid.org