SYRIA CONTINUES TO BE AN EMERGENCY SITUATION
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 13.1 million people in Syria are in need of humanitarian assistance today-a direct consequence of 8 years of cruel civil war aggravated by the open outright persecution of Christians at the hands of the extremist groups, ISIS and Al-Qaeda.
5.5 million people have since fled the country, among them, more than 50% are of the former Christian population, 6.3 million are internally displaced, more than 6,000houses of Christian families have been destroyed and more than 3,000schools have been destroyed.
Against this background, the Maltese National Office of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is embarking on a renewed campaign to provide emergency aid packages for Syria. These will include education for children and young people, food and medical support, lodging and reconstruction of houses for Christian families, training programs and spiritual care as well as post-trauma support programs.
National Director of ACN Malta, Stephen Axisa explains that this campaign is absolutely crucial to the survival of those forced from their homes in the most dreadful circumstances.
“Syria continues to be an emergency situation; the severity and complexity of needs across the Country remain overwhelming. The suffering is not over yet. We face massive challenges in easing the terrible wounds inflicted over the past eight years”.
With the launch of this campaign, ACN is appealing to people of goodwill to respond to this humanitarian emergency and prevent the Christian presence in Syria from being wiped out.
ACN has been providing emergency aid to displaced Christian families from the beginning of the conflict in 2011 in Aleppo and in other cities in Syria.
To support this campaign or to donate, kindly visit www.syria.acninternational.org/malta/ or contact us on 21487818 and info@acnmalta.org.
