How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected vulnerable groups, refugees, women and children in the Mardin area? Social workers Berfin Ordu and Abdurrahman Kaya from Support to Life share their experiences from 2020 and tell us how extraordinary circumstances continue to affect the lives of refugees. The pandemic suddenly changed the system that we have been…
The Coronavirus pandemic has made extraordinary measures necessary to deal with unprecedented challenges. Abdullah works for an organization delivering humanitarian assistance and tells us how aid is continuously delivered to those most in need amidst COVID-19. I am Abdullah Önder Özkul. I work as project manager at Support to Life in Diyarbakır. As part of…
#SupportToLifeDuringPandemic Fatima escaped conflict-ridden Syria, but not the chronic illness that left her feeling powerless. She fears her son could end up the same way. When fighting in Aleppo intensified, Fatima and her family were left with no choice but to flee their country to find safety elsewhere. “We were scared all the time. We…
The pandemic has changed many things in our lives and is still continuing to do so. What would you do if you had trouble accessing even basic services, lost your job, did not have accommodation and on top of it all got sick? Semih Öztürk from Support to Life Istanbul tells us what supporting lives…
#SupportToLifeDuringPandemic Meryem is a young refugee woman trying to stay healthy with her three children amidst the coronavirus the pandemic. Dilek Latifeci from our Şanlıurfa team tells us what Meryem and others are experiencing during the pandemic, and about her work as a humanitarian. I am Dilek Latifeci. I have been working as a social…
OUR LIFE BEFORE We had a very good life in Syria. My husband who was a French teacher was going to work while I was tutoring pre-school age children and writing informative articles for older students about universities. My son Alaa was preparing to study at university and my daughter Kinde was studying English. It…
Being a refugee means starting from scratch for many. Humanitarian aid can be a big facilitator for individuals that are struggling to regain their independence. In the case of Manat (11), we once again experienced how crucial can well-placed assistance be. It was invigorating for all of us in Istanbul field office to see a…
If we define our own living space though predefined identities of belonging, norms for a ‘home;’ for the last two weeks Pazarkule is a ‘haunted house’. For the last two weeks the ‘no man’s land’ –the buffer zone between the two borders– spearhead defendable values of the modern age. This no man’s land has been…
By definition, humanitarian aid conducts activities to provide basic services when local capacities are overwhelmed and public institutions fail to facilitate vulnerable groups access to basic rights and services. As Support to Life, beyond addressing immediate protection needs of the refugee community living in Turkey, we also care a great deal about enabling sustainable solutions…
This year at our Mardin Support to Life Hub, where the work we conduct as the implementing partner of Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe and with the financing of European Union through its Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations focuses mainly on closing the ‘gaps’ and facilitating marginalized or at-risk refugees’ access to their basic needs and rights,…
