Firefly for Syrians and the fall of the Assad regime – your help is still very much needed!
Firefly in the UK has been in daily contact with our partners, Firefly for Syrians. We feel their joy at the fall of the Assad regime. The dream of returning home, which felt almost an impossibility, has suddenly become a real prospect. However, families with children are in no rush to head back into the areas they left during the war. The economy and institutions, including education, have been hollowed out in Syria. The war created a ‘brain drain’ with many professionals, including teachers, fleeing the country. Understandably, people prioritise their children’s education, and they are far from convinced that today’s Syria can offer a safer and better teaching environment.
Fadia Shaker, the Director of Firefly for Syrians, and her colleagues are monitoring the situation as closely as possible, as are we. Fadia is in close contact with all of her staff, both those based in Antakya, Turkey and those in northern Syria. Including volunteer teachers being paid a stipend, and the small head office team, there are 80 people on the payroll. All funding to pay them, and to meet other non-staff costs, comes from us at Firefly International, which means you.
Fadia has carried out a poll around all staff to establish who wants to return to Syria. 95% said not yet. They rate their children’s chances of getting an education as better where they are now, for now.
The decision as theirs, not ours, but we endorse it. As Geir Pederson, UN Special Envoy for Syria said on Tuesday, prudence is essential: “There are livelihood challenges still. The humanitarian situation is disastrous. The economy has collapsed.” Our trustee Samer Chamsi-Pasha, returned yesterday 19 December from his first visit back to the country of his birth since the civil war, and was invited to talks with Abdul Al Sharaa, the leader of the group now in control of the country, about economic regeneration. Samer is confident that Syrians can rebuild their country and their economy but echoes Fadia’s descriptions of an infrastructure, both physical and social, completely hollowed out. He spoke at our webinar on 19 December. The link to the recording is here
We hope and expect that international support will soon start to flowing into Syria. This will partly entail the lifting of governmental sanctions so the full effect is not going to be instant. The geopolitics are not for Firefly, but the needs of war-affected children are most certainly our business.
With our partners we are absolutely committed to ensuring that Syrian children, both refugees in Turkey and internally displaced in northern Syria, continue to discover the joy of learning. The fall of the former regime actually makes that harder for us at the moment. Many would-be donors may think all Syrian refugees can safely return home and just put their children into school. This is very far from the case yet. Please help us by continuing to fund the education we have successfully been providing in Turkey and Syria for war-affected children. Please help us train many more teachers in our remote teaching methods. Firefly for Syrians needs you now just as much as before, perhaps even more so!
With thanks in anticipation,
Jane Salmonson, Director, and Maria Chambers, Projects Coordinator, Firefly International
20 December 2024
