Nidal’s military service lasted nearly nine years, then after being discharged from military, he faced the harshness of life as well as the vague future.

Immediately after his service, he worked in his brother’s sewing workshop, but being new in this domain made his journey harder.

All of Nidal’s family members work in their own specialization, which motivates him to have his own business and to care of his family’s livelihood expenses.

The opportunity of having his own taxi planted a seed of hope in his soul, he applied and got accepted which made him extremely happy.

After the long years of sacrifice he made, Nidal now is thankful for the chance that he got from Hope Center, which made him the boss of himself, and the idea of ensuring a better income for him and his family made him more confident than ever. 

Melkon started working when he was in his early twenties with plans in his head to create a secure future for him and his mother.

From a young age he worked in two different domains to learn more skills and gain experience; his first job was in a mechanic workshop and in a short notice he started working on a lathing machine to increase his income, by time he became gifted in both jobs.

When the war hit the city of Aleppo, Melkon thought about a plan to save his career and he decided on traveling, in 2011 he left Syria looking for a better opportunities to make money and help his family.

Melkon worked in Lebanon nearly 11 years in both of the domains, in 2022 he decided to come back, start a family and settle in Aleppo now, he is a newly-married young man and they live together with his mother hoping that someday they will be able to buy their own house.

Supporting Melkon with the important equipment will have a positive effect on his work and he’ll be able to create a secure future for his child and provide his family’s needs and livelihood expenses.

Fredy served in the army for two years and after his discharge he was recalled for reserve military service, which lasted nearly seven years.

After that he thought of working in the aluminum manufacturing domain, but the lack of experience and costumers together with his financial circumstances weren’t encouraging for him.

Fredy is a newly married man and they are blessed with a daughter, but due to the economic crises they are living with his wife’s family. He is currently spending from his savings plus he is the only one responsible for all of his family’s expenses.

Fredy is aiming to work and be able to move out to their own apartment, provide a happy and secure future for his family.

After he heard about Hope Center, he was grateful for the opportunity to start working independently on his taxi and improve his income. 

Milad Dawood is a 36-year-old man, married to Laura Toma, and has a son named Eliea, born in 2011, the family lives in a small two-rooms flat in Kashkoul, Damascus countryside.

He was born into a modest family and since he became an adult he had to work and support his parents with the living expenses. The hardworking man was able to handle the house obligations and save some money to get married and start his own project in selling eggs in 2010.

However, a year after he was exposed to fraud by his worker who stole all the products from the shop which made Milad lose all that he worked for in the previous years. Yet, he didn't hesitate to overcome this incident and returned to work as a pickup driver, delivering products to the shops until the beginning of the war when he was called for military service in 2012.

his service was in the most dangerous places and soon after he was exposed to shooting; the bullet penetrated his body from his stomach to his back. his condition was critical and he had to go under treatment but he was kept in service until his discharge in 2022.

Milad returned to his family in a difficult psychological situation and started to do freelance jobs to secure the livelihood demands but his financial conditions were very bad which forced his wife to take their son and live with her parents until he could manage the living expenses again which was a devastating point in Milad's life because all he was dreaming about in his ten-year service was to go back to his family and make up for his absence years from his son's life.

Milad visited the micro-project office in Damascus and applied for the pickup car looking for any ray of hope to achieve his dream of having his life back.

Indeed, he deserved this chance because he was a self-made man seeking for a chance to work, restore his dignity, and reunite his family.

Anton tried to overcome all obstacles to provide his wife and kids with his care and love and worked hard to secure them a decent living. 

the 43-years-old man is married to Diana Shamoun and they have two kids Elias born in 2005, and Polin born in 2009, the family live in a rented small flat in Jaramana, Damascus suburbs, under very bad circumstances.

Many years ago, Anton started to work as a valet parking at a hotel until the start of the crisis as he had to move to a safer area but with a lower salary because of the security conditions.

In 2013, his wife Diana was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to undergo surgery and long treatment sessions which affected their psychological and financial conditions especially since Anton had to work for more than twelve hours daily far from his house and family. However, Anton was still unable to match his income with the increasing costs of living so he decided to quit his job and with the money he saved, he started his own Mini-market in Jaramana trying his best to secure a better living for his family.

Anton's shop was poor in materials and equipment because he started it with a little amount of money which made its income lower than other shops.

Supporting Anton with the necessary equipment and proper amount of goods and products was a strong push for his project hoping to enable him of having a better and sustainable income to improve his living conditions.

George Shamma is 30 years old, living with his mother in a modest rented flat in Al-Dwalaa area but before the war, he used to live with his parents and seven siblings in Daria town in the countryside of Damascus in peace and security. 

When he was seventeen, he started working with his father at his carpentry workshop in order to support him and learn the profession. George was full of hope and energy, trying to establish a career for his future but unfortunately, with the war outbreak in 2011, he was called for military service, and for the next nine years he had to serve in the most intense conflict areas, Daraa and Alqaboun.

During that period, George has been through many difficult incidents that affected his life, but the most painful one was in 2012 when the family was gathering to celebrate his brother’s wedding in Daria, his father was exposed to sniping that led to his immediate death and the wedding turned into a Funeral.

This devastating incident affected the whole family especially since soon after, the armed groups entered the area forcing George and his family to be displaced from their house and they were informed later that their house and his father’s workshop were completely destroyed.

Those terrible losses led to spreading the family members on many parts of the country and George ended up alone with his old mother putting him under great responsibility since he became the breadwinner of the house.

However, after his discharge in 2019, George started to work as a taxi driver because he couldn’t learn any profession during the years of service but the taxi rent was very expensive and his income was barely matching the high costs of living.

With the help of Hope center, George was able to purchase his own taxi which will enable him to be independent and have a sustainable source of income to secure his future.

life is based on the fight for survival, especially in a country that witnessed ten years of a brutal war that drained every opportunity of decent living. Fadi Albadeen is one of those fighters who went through many hardships in his life and kept his strong faith.

He is 29 years old and lives with his parents and his brother’s family in Kashkoul area in Damascus.

In 2008, Fadi started working at a hairdressing salon at a very young age in order to support himself and help his parents with the living expenses as they were living in poor financial conditions. He learned about this career and became good at it and was dreaming to establish his own salon, but in 2013 after about two years of the war outbreak, he was called to serve in the military service which made him lose his job.

Fadi stayed in the service for nine years, during which his family went through many incidents as his father had a car accident that caused him three fractions and made him disabled from doing any job and his brother was shot in his hand which caused the amputation of his fingers, and Fadi himself was hurt greatly due to his severe service which made him undergo critical back surgery.

Fadi was discharged from military service in 2022 and he didn’t hesitate to start working at a hairdressing salon to handle the living expenses but the salary was very low and didn’t match the increasing costs of living especially since he was responsible for his family and his brother’s family because his brother is at the military service in Edleb city.

Fadi found his way to the micro-project office in Damascus where he applied for a hairdressing salon and was funded with all the equipment and tools needed to start his project hoping that he will be independent and have a proper income to secure a decent living for him and his family.

Like most young men of his age, Murshid did not have the opportunity to complete his education or learn a profession as he was called up for military service in 2012 and stayed there for nine years, after which he was discharged to face the difficult conditions of life without any profession or career, which formed a heavy burden on him, especially since he had to find a proper job with good income quickly because he became the only responsible for his family after his father's death.

The financial situation for Murshid and his family was affected greatly by his father's sickness; they used to have a pick-up car and a piece of land in Hama which they had to sell to afford the costs of treatment and Intensive care.

His mother also went through bad health condition; as she suffered two blood clots, after which she was forced to undergo surgery and permanent treatment and his brother Elias was called for military service, so Murshid was fighting the harsh living situation alone.

He decided to work in a restaurant in Ain Tarma and as a pickup driver so he could be able to secure medicine for his mother and his brother’s expenses in addition to household demands. 

The challenge was very difficult under the harsh economic situation and no matter how hard he worked; his income was barely enough to secure the daily basics.

Through the micro-project program in Damascus, Murshid was funded to buy a pick-up car, which will provide him with a sustainable income suitable to bear the high costs of life and fulfill his family obligations.

During his life journey, Pier Haddad 42, has proven that "Service is what life is all about and great acts could be made from small deeds."

Pier spent his childhood between catechism activities and church service dreaming to grow up and become a part of this great message, which he achieved during the past years as he became a piano teacher and he invested his talent to give free lessons to the children in the neighborhood.

After that, he started cooperating with the Franciscan Music Center, Saint Musa Al-Habashi Monastery, and the Jesus and Mary Sisters Center for Music in giving music lessons to the kids for very low wages because all he cared about was that each child has the right to learn music no matter what his financial situation was.

However, Pier was living in a modest house in Al-Dwalaa area but during the wartime his parents were deceased and his siblings traveled abroad and tried to take him with them but he refused to travel because he was very passionate about his service so after staying alone at the house, he decided to turn it to a music teaching center for the poor kids in the area and with the help of his friends he could teach them Piano, Oud, and violin. 

Although Pier was doing a great service for the area and the church, he wasn't getting any income and in the past couple of years he started to suffer from financial hardships so he decided to start a recording studio to get some income but he didn’t have the needed equipment so he applied at the Micro-project center asking for support.

Pier has surely deserved to be supported by the Micro-project program and he was funded with all the equipment that will allow him to start his own recording studio that will provide him with a reasonable source of income and at the same time continue his message in teaching music for the kids and achieving his dream in recording hymns for churches, assuring again that “Goodness is the only investment that never fails”.

Being a child in a large family was never easy for Nahi, he was a brother of eight siblings and a child of loving and caring parents who did their best to secure a proper livelihood for their kids which wasn't available for them especially since they were living in a small village that didn't have enough resources or work opportunities so most of its villagers were forced to move to secure their future.

Nahi and his siblings left the village as soon as they turned 18 heading to the city, trying to work and secure their own expenses. In 2008, Nahi started working as a maintenance worker and for the following six years, he was able to send money to his parents and sick sister in the village.

However, during the war, his income started to decrease and he became unable to match his expenses so he quit his job and started working as a pick-up driver delivering goods and products between the city and village, but during the economic collapse and the fuel crisis, his job became unprofitable especially since he had to pay a huge rent to the pick-up owner so he started to learn the sanitary maintenance profession from his cousin and during the year 2022 he was learning and working with his cousin who unfortunately passed away leaving Nahi in sorrow.

He felt that all paths are closing one after another so he turned to God praying for his great mercy.

Through the Micro-project program, Nahi was funded with the Pick-up, hoping that it will form a new start and allow him to work independently with a sustainable source of income.

“This support has renewed hope in my heart and it assured me that true faith means holding nothing back, it means putting every hope in God’s fidelity to his promises”

For the last 15 years, without missing a day, Munir was touring streets from behind his steering wheels, disciplined and determined to secure a decent living for his family.

He is married to Reem Al-labed and they have three adorable daughters Caroleen, Valentina, and Mary rose. Munir worked as a taxi driver, and during the crisis in Syria, he struggled a lot to afford the living obligations and his family's livelihood without needing anyone's help.

Unfortunately, that situation changed in 2019, as his daughter Carolyn started to feel sick, and after undergoing several tests, she was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in the brain which was devastating news for Munir and his family.

Since then, Carolyn had to go through two surgeries and a long and painful treatment journey which exhausted her body and her family, especially Munir whose health also deteriorated as a result and had to undergo heart surgery but he was always holding strong faith in his heart that his daughter will overcome this experience and be cured eventually. 

At the same time, Munir was working hard to cope with the increasing costs of living especially in the last couple of years during the terrible economic and fuel crisis, but no matter how hard he worked, his income was still not enough to afford the living expenses, his daughter’s medication, and the taxi rent.

they started to suffer even to afford their daily food and he had to ask for support from charities and churches to help him survive during these critical circumstances.

Munir was in dire need of having an independent project that will preserve his dignity and help him pass through these dark days which he got after applying to the Micro-project program as he was approved to be funded with the taxi project with all hope that this project will form a positive outcome in his life.

For most of his life, Jerious's main concerns were his family's comfort and safety; he never minded working hard for long hours for the past twenty years for this aim.

Jerious is 55, married to Taghreed Alabdoun, and has two sons Fady born in 1997, and Rami born in 2000.

They were living close to Al-dkhanieh area in the countryside of Damascus where he was also working at his carpentry workshop.

This all changed after 2011 as the armed conflict that took place in Al-dkhanieh forced them to be displaced from their house for many months, staying at their relatives' house, with no work or income.

however, when the security situation settled down, they returned to their area but found the house and workshop damaged which affected their living conditions as Jerious's work wasn't as profitable as before and his income was barely meeting the high living expenses.

Jerious tried his best and made an extra effort to improve his work which led to deteriorating his health condition as he had to undergo heart surgery which he couldn't afford so he sold his machines to cover the surgery costs.

After his recovery, he was forbidden to make any physical effort which made him unable to return to work in the carpentry workshop but he didn't accept to stay jobless so he rented a mini pickup and started to work as a driver delivering goods, vegetables, and products trying to secure the basic living needs for his family.

Nevertheless, the high rent of the pickup made all his work seems worthless and the only solution was to have his own pickup car in order to make a difference in his life.

Through the Micro-project initiative in Damascus, Jerious was able to buy the mini pickup that will enable him to work independently and open the way to develop his work and increase his income so that he could improve his living conditions.

Myassar Alsamara is originally from a modest family from a village called Kharba in the countryside of Daraa, which was occupied by armed groups after the outbreak of the war in Syria.

He is 50 years old, married to Sawsan Al-thibian, and they have three children: Tala born in 2004, Shadi 2007, and Fadi 2011, he lives with his family in Al-Dwalla neighborhood in Damascus. He was working as an employee in a government institution in the morning and after work, on his mini pickup as a driver along with his brother as they used to transport goods and products between areas.

However, during wartime conditions worsened, and shells began to hit the area heavily on daily basis, so Myassar sold the Pickup fearing its destruction.

Myasar continued his work and was trying hard to secure the living requirements for his family, but a great tragedy befell upon them in 2014 when his brother's wife died of an electric shock, which was a devastating matter to his brother, who committed suicide after her, leaving his three children without any parent.

That day, Myasar didn't only lose his brother but also became responsible for three young orphans under very difficult living conditions. He had to overcome his sorrows and surround his brother's children with his care and love to compensate them for the loss of their parents. 

In 2021, Myassar retired from his work and his conditions were very difficult as he was living on aids from churches and charities and was in dire need of a project of his own that would secure him a decent and sustainable income.

Through the Micro Projects Program, Myassar was supported to purchase a Mini Pickup, which he considered his lifetime project that will be his only source of income, contributing to improving his family's living, and providing them with a decent living.

Thabet Khneifes is 56 years old, he is married to Rima Al-Qablan and has three daughters and a son, Rita, Rudeina, Salam, and Ghazi.

He used to live with his family in Tibneh village, in the countryside of Daraa, where he worked as an employee and they lived in stability.

However, the countryside of Daraa was one of the areas that were severely affected by the war, and its citizens were exposed to many dangers and threats. in 2015 and despite his poor financial situation, Thabit decided to leave the village and move with his family to live in the city of Damascus, as he preferred living in poverty rather than risking the lives of his family.

Thabet retired from his work in 2017 and then started working as a pickup driver to secure his family's livelihood and support his children to continue their education and in return, his children started to work and study at the same time to help their father; Rita started working in an optical shop, while his son Ghazi started doing several freelance jobs.

During the past two years, the security situation stabilized in his village so Thabet began to work in transporting vegetables and goods from the village to the city which enhanced his work but unfortunately, the owner of the pickup decided to sell it which made Thabet suddenly jobless and with no source of income. he tried to rent another one but the rent was very expensive and their financial conditions were deteriorating which affected his son's health as he had a blood clot as a result of the great psychological pressure but thanks to God he survived.

Thabet visited the Micro-Projects Office in Damascus and applied for the pickup project hoping to have this lifetime chance that will form a new chapter in his life and his request was approved.

Now after the funding, Thabet is working independently again and doing his best to improve his condition and secure a better living for his family.

Camille Seropian, 55 is married to Rania Mansour, and they have two kids, Jerious born in 2008, and Selina, born in 2020.

He worked as a Goldsmith from 1979 until the beginning of the war in 2011 when the work began to decrease gradually due to the repercussions of the war, so the owner of the workshop was forced to close it and travel abroad, which led to the end of Camille's work.

Camille found himself in a difficult situation, as he lost his main profession and all his savings and was living under critical security and economic conditions.

However, he did not give up and decided to start working as a mobile salesman using a bicycle; he used to load some goods on his bike daily and tour from place to place to sell them. His work began to improve until he was able to save some money and buy a small car that he used in distributing the goods until 2019 when the economic conditions began to deteriorate and houses' rents began to rise, so he sold his car to buy a small house to secure his family, and returned to working on his bicycle.

Camille used to ride long hours on his bike under extreme heat, cold, or rain because all his concern was to secure a decent living for his family, but this hard work caused him, over time, many health problems which made him unable to work with the same effort and as a result, his income decreased. 

However, he did not let despair creep into his heart, as he applied for the Pickup car project, and with the help of Micro projects he was able to buy the pickup that will allow him to develop his work, increase his income, and change his living conditions for the best