After the fall of the Assad regime, Syria is working hard for a brighter future. But 14 years of war have left millions of displaced people struggling to meet their most basic needs. In many cities and villages, damaged infrastructure and rising costs have made access to clean water and daily essentials increasingly difficult.
With funding from the European Union, Oxfam is helping families through life-saving interventions:
- restoring water and sewage systems
- improving waste management
- promoting better hygiene
- providing cash assistance to cover essential needs
Salma: water at last within reach
In Al-Ahmadiyah, Salma’s mornings once revolved around a single question: ‘How much water can we afford today?’
The 38-year-old mother recalls the strain of handing over €6 for a truckload of water – nearly a week’s wage for her husband, a farmer.
‘We’d ration showers, reuse cooking water’, Salma says. ‘But thirst always won.’
Her days were a constant balancing act between her children’s needs, her husband’s long hours in the fields, and the worry of not having enough. ‘My youngest would cry when I told her we couldn’t wash her school uniform’, she recalls.
Then came Oxfam’s intervention, funded by the EU. When clean water finally reached their tap, the family gathered around to see it flow. ‘The children splashed their faces first’, says Salma with a smile.
For the first time in years, evenings were no longer about scarcity.
I drank until my stomach hurt’, she laughs softly. ‘Now I just hope this continues.’
Safaa and Aisha: choosing what matters most
Safaa, 63, spent her life working in the fields of Mqeilibeh, in rural Damascus. For decades she rose before sunrise, her hands calloused from farming, earning just enough to feed her children. Now, age and exhaustion have forced her to stop. ‘I gave everything to the land’, she says, ‘but in the end, the land gave me nothing back.’
Her daughter Aisha, a widow, now supports the family. She works long hours at a clothing shop for €46 a month – barely enough for food or medicine. ‘Some months, we survive on bread and tea’, Aisha says.
When the EU-funded cash assistance from Oxfam arrived - €385 for each of them – they focused on what mattered most. Safaa’s grandson underwent urgent surgery, they bought a small water tank, and Aisha’s son finally received his school supplies.
‘For once, we didn’t have to choose which need to ignore’, Safaa says quietly.
Their future remains uncertain. The house they have lived in for years, a relative’s abandoned property, is being reclaimed. ‘We lost our home in Ghouta to the war’, Safaa says. ‘Now we may have to start again.’
Marwan: a burden lifted
Marwan wipes sweat from his brow as his children study on the cracked floor of their shared home in Mqeilibeh, in rural Damascus. He, his wife, and 5 children live with 10 other families, under one roof.
As a daily labourer, Marwan earns just over €2.50 a day when work is available. Every 2 weeks, he pays almost €4 for water, often skipping meals to afford it. Debts for bread and gas kept growing. ‘Water wasn’t a choice’, he says. ‘It was a constant worry.’
That changed when Oxfam, with support from the European Union, rehabilitated the local borehole, restoring a steady supply of clean water. His youngest daughter ran to wash her hands under the tap. ‘Now we can breathe a little easier’, Marwan says. ‘And we can focus on our children’s future.’
Hilaleh: bread and persistence
In her small, rented home in rural Damascus, 66-year-old Hilaleh kneels beside her tandoor oven, feeding it with scraps of packaging material collected from the factory where her daughters work. ‘Wood is too expensive’, she explains. Every batch of bread earns her about €0.20.
Her 2 daughters, aged 35 and 43, work long shifts at a chip factory for modest wages that barely cover rent, debts, and medicine for Hilaleh’s back pain. Each week, they pay €4 for non-potable water, boiling it to drink. ‘Even the donkey carts selling water are raising prices’, one daughter says.
The EU-funded cash grant from Oxfam, - €385 - helped them pay part of their debt and buy flour to keep the small bread business running. ‘I can’t stop working’, Hilaleh says, rubbing her spine. ‘If I do, who will feed us?’
Her daughter looks around at the crumbling walls. ‘We're afraid to wake up one day and see the landlord at the door’, she says.
A shared thread of resilience
From Salma’s tap to Safaa’s grandson’s recovery, from Marwan’s repaired borehole to Hilaleh’s bread oven, these stories share one message:
When support reaches those who need it most, it lightens the mental burden allowing people to breathe – if only for a moment – a sigh of relief.
Through Oxfam’s work made possible by the European Union, families in rural Damascus can meet their basic needs.
