Doha: Work is in progress in the ‘Touch of Warmth’ project of Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) in needy parts of Syria, with a budget of $1.1m (QR4m), under its Warm Winter 2015-2016 campaign.
The latest winterisation aid distributions were in Kafar Naha in western and southern Aleppo countryside, Jarjnaz in Idlib countryside, Qasr Ibn Wardan in eastern Hama countryside, areas of Damascus, Rif Dimashq, Daraa countryside and Homs.
In the towns, children received warm clothes to protect their fragile health against the bitter cold.
The innocent children smiled as they wore new warm clothes with the help of QRCS staff, who talked to them in a friendly manner and took group photos with them to help them forget the atrocities of war and displacement and compensate them for deprivation of their basic rights to playing, food, warmth and education.
For more than three months now, QRCS relief personnel have been conducting the production, procurement, and distribution processes of the project in cooperation with International Community Development and Human Support Foundation (SDI) and International Humanitarian Relief (IHR). The project aims to distribute 30,500 bags of children’s winter clothes and 225,000 litres of heating oil and restore 200 households damaged by war. All clothes were produced and delivered by 26 contracted workshops, which hired more than 370 local workers.
Distribution of the second batch of heating oil (125,000 litres) has begun, following distribution of the first batch of 100,000 litres at the rate of 40 per family. Homes restoration works were welcomed by communities, beneficiaries, and professionals, including electricians, plumbers, construction workers, carpenters, among others,
So far, 80 homes in Rif Dimashq and 30 in Aleppo have been restored.
There are also indirect beneficiaries, including 370 sewing workers, 150 reconstruction workers, 80 volunteers supervising the project, and 20 volunteers to distribute the heating oil.
The project is part of QRCS’s Warm Winter campaign for 2015-2016 to protect Syrian children against the cold winter, help reduce child mortality rates, encourage school attendance and prevent absenteeism, support local livelihood, reactivate small-to-medium plants and workshops and reach out to the beleaguered and most needy areas.The Peninsula
