The United Nations launched its largest ever humanitarian appeal last month as winter storms brought heavy snow and freezing temperatures to the Middle East, making living conditions for those fleeing Syria鈥檚 civil war for refugee camps much worse. The UN estimates there are almost 2.3 million Syrian refugees around the region, with over 6 million displaced internally in Syria.
In late November, Clement Mehlman, a chaplain at 麻豆传媒鈥檚 Multifaith Centre, helped organize Dal students to collect sweaters for Canada Lutheran World Relief, who would then send them to Syrian refugees in Jordan. A number of Dal students from Syria were involved.
鈥淭o collect sweaters was a way for people to put into action a need to help, a way to abate sadness and hopeless at a situation that is on the other side of the world,鈥� said Kimber McNabb, pastor at the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection in Halifax. 鈥淚t was the right thing to do.鈥�
麻豆传媒, together with members from the Church, collected nearly 200 sweaters. Some individuals brought in coats and, while only sweaters were being collected for Syria, eights bags of coats were given to the 麻豆传媒 winter coat drive while six bags were sent to the Salvation Army Thrift Store.
The sweaters were then boxed and taken to a collection centre in Lower Sackville, from which they were delivered by truck to Winnipeg鈥檚 Canada Lutheran World Relief depot. Community groups and Lutheran churches from all across Canada participated in the project, collecting 50,000 sweaters.
The sweaters were sent to the Za'atari refugee camp in Jordan, where hundreds of thousands of Syrian people are living, with more arriving daily. According to McNabb, the hope is that 鈥淭he sweaters will be a piece of comfort for people far from home.鈥�
Sweaters for Syria
Amani Saini - January 10, 2014
Sweaters of all sizes. (Eddy Chang, used via Flickr under Creative Commons license)