This family was originally living in East Aleppo, but they fled Syria in a forced evacuation of their city back in December of 2016. Faten Makhzoom and her two children, Mohamad and Raghad, managed to find refuge in Ankara, Turkey, where they now reside. Faten’s husband passed away in Syria before the evacuation. Before they fled the country, Faten stayed home with the children while her husband worked to provide for the family. Now that they live without him in a foreign country, they are struggling to afford rent. Up until recently, Mohamad, aged 14, was working in a sewing factory in Istanbul to support his mother and sister. Because of his work, he was unable to attend school. Fortunately, with ARC’s assistance, Mohamad is back in Ankara with his family and will start school with his sister in September.
Up until recently, they were living in a dangerous part of Ankara, but we have since found them an apartment in a safe area. Faten plans to start taking Turkish classes with her children so she can ease their transition by learning the language. She hopes to find work or establish a small business, perhaps in the food industry, in order to provide for her family while her children are in school. We have a donor who has generously provided food assistance for Faten for the next few months.
ARC will soon be seeking support for a micro enterprise for this family. We go through an extensive collaboration before we fundraise with each family in order to determine what they would like to do to reach financial self sufficiency and establish a business plan and start up cost estimates. Those estimates will be posted shortly.
ARC is working in coordination with volunteer Stefanie Ziervogl to support Faten, Mohamad, and Raghad. To learn more about their family and how you can help, please contact Stefanie at: s.ziervogl@gmx.at