In 2017, Issam was no longer able to continue in his main profession as a floor tiler due to his health condition. With some money he had, he rented a simple shop and opened a mini-market near his house. He took advantage of being in a well populated neighborhood surrounded by schools, which made his shop known in the area. Issam is the only provider for his family of six; his wife, his three daughters and son in addition to his old mother. 

After the spread of COVID-19, his shop lacked a lot of the essential food commodities and he couldn’t compensate for this shortage due to the high prices and the severe economic crisis which increased his financial burdens. 

This project is Issam’s only way to support his family of seven and the only thing he can do after the health problem he suffered from his previous exhausting job.

Providing his mini-market with the required goods will improve his situation and alleviate his heavy burdens, and he will be able to cover all of the clients’ needs. 

Being the eldest son, Faek became the only responsible for the family after the death of his father. He lives with his mother Wafaa who is a retired teacher, and his younger brother Fadi who newly graduated from the faculty of law and started looking for a job opportunity. 

Faek used to work in a mobile phone accessories shop for four years, when his father passed away; he decided to open his own shop where he could support his family by utilizing his experience and applying what he had studied in the institute of computer technology. In 2017, he rented a shop in a high-populated area and started working, his business was successful; he managed to compensate for a part of losing the head of the family by providing a decent income, which allowed his brother to continue his university studies.

Unfortunately, like many shops, Faek’s shop was heavily affected by the spread of COVID-19 and the shop was closed for two months, during the lockdown, the economic situation started to get harder and the high prices made it very difficult for him to keep up with the market and supply his shop with more goods. The shop became half empty and his income became barely enough for a family’s basic needs! 

This project is the main source of livelihood for Faek’s family. It’s time for to receive the support he deserves as he has always been supporting everyone around him.

Manar is the only provider for his family, he lives with his wife, his two daughters, his son and his mother. In 1989, he started his career as a chef and worked in many different restaurants between Homs and the suburbs; this business had always been his only job and source of livelihood for more than 30 years. In 2020, Manar and his family decided to settle down in the city of Homs; he rented a shop near his house and started a new business, which was a sandwich shop. Everything went well for five months until one day; he had a heart attack that almost cost him his life while he was working, he went through a dangerous surgery and doctors advised him to stop working in this field because it became inconvenient for his health condition.

When he started to get better gradually, Manar thought of a way to provide for his family and found that opening a shop specialized in selling chocolate, coffee, salted nuts and some food commodities for kids would be useful as there was not such a shop in his neighborhood. At the beginning of 2021, Manar launched his new project but unfortunately, the hard economic circumstances and the rising prices had a negative impact on his newly opened shop, and supplying it with more goods became very difficult.

The only thing Manar hopes for today is to continue providing for his family and ensure them a decent life. This project is his last hope and the only thing he can do, supporting him will make a positive difference and will help him to improve his living situation. 

Nadia is a single woman, she works in her own mini-market which she opened back in 2008 and lives with her sister Sabah (64 years old), her niece Caroline (16 years old) and her nephew Anis (23 years old) who is a university student, they all moved to live with them after the death of their parents. 

Her mini-market has always been known for the variety of its food commodities because she always focused on supplying her shop with various goods in small quantities just to meet all of her clients’ needs. In 2019, her brother had a heart attack and needed an urgent surgery, Nadia and her brother’s family couldn’t afford paying the hospital costs and they were forced to borrow a big amount of money. Two months later, her sister-in-law died suddenly! Nadia’s brother couldn’t bear the sorrow and he passed away 20 days later.

Losing their beloved ones was very harsh on Nadia and her sister, they took upon themselves to take care of Caroline and Anis and to pay all the debts. Their financial burdens became heavier and providing the shop with enough goods was nearly impossible, but what really affected her business was the catastrophic spread of COVID-19. She needs support to save her family’s only source of livelihood and ensure them a dignified life. 

Now, Nadia’s mini-market is back to thriving thanks to the Micro Projects Program, hoping that better days are ahead for this family.  

Mousa was a goldsmith, he lost everything he had when the war started, as a result of his deep sorrow he got Diabetes which forced the doctors to amputate his leg, all that had a huge impact on his life, but he didn’t give up for the sake of his wife and their only daughter Renee (17 years old). 

In 2018, Mousa opened a cotton clothes shop and started from scratch, this shop allowed him to secure a sufficient income for his family and it was suitable for his health condition. Unfortunately, the economic crisis and the high prices affected Mousa’s shop a lot and he couldn’t buy new goods until it became almost empty. Helping him through the Micro Project program to strengthen his business will get the business back on track and improve his situation, thus, help him to overcome the hardships he went through. 

Rateb is his mother’s only family after the death of his father at a young age, he works in his mini-market in addition to being an employee with very simple salary. During the war, the family’s house in Al-Hamidia was severely damaged and they were displaced to Al-Arman neighborhood where they stayed in a rented apartment. When the economic crisis started, the income became barely enough to cover their basic needs and the rent cost, which made Rateb think of a way to improve their situation. In 2019, he managed to sell their destroyed house at a very low price and opened a mini-market with the money, this shop was the only one in the neighborhood and it provided this family with some decent income. 

Unfortunately, the spread of COVID-19 and the huge inflation affected Rateb’s business and caused a serious shortage in most of the important commodities, the sales rate dropped and he started losing his clients. Supplying the mini-market with more goods will help him continue working during these hard circumstances, and will guarantee Rateb and his mother a dignified life. 

At a young age, Ibrahim found himself the only responsible for his mother and sister when his father passed away after a long, painful battle with cancer at the beginning of 2021. Ibrahim and his mother spent all of the family’s savings on the treatment costs and were left with nothing after losing the head of their family. 

As a young man, he didn’t have any source of livelihood so he borrowed some money from his uncle and opened a small mini-market with modest capabilities. Unfortunately, inflation was a huge obstacle in his way and prevented him from buying enough goods, his shop lacked many essentials and required a lot of commodities that he couldn’t compensate without some support.

Supplying Ibrahim’s mini-market with the needed goods will help him to ensure a dignified life for his family, and will also make a positive difference in their life despite all the hardships they have experienced. 

In the fifties of her age, Nahla had to build a whole new life from scratch after she split up with her husband in 2018. She lives with her sister Taghreed (63 years old) and her nephew Mahran, who moved to live with them after his parents’ death. 

Nahla works as a teacher, but during the economic crisis, her salary became insufficient and she barely managed to cover her daily needs, so she started to search for an additional source of livelihood which would allow her to provide a better income and support her family.

In 2020, she rented a small shop and started selling cleaning materials, for the first few months, this shop helped her to improve her financial situation, until COVID-19 started to spread and stopped all the activities of life. Unfortunately, the lockdown was followed by a sharp increase in the prices, and Nahla couldn’t supply her shop with more goods. One day, a neighbor told her about the Micro Projects Program, so she applied and got the needed support for her project. This support saved her last hope as a working woman, and gave her the independence and stability she has been looking for. 

Mouna lives by herself after her parents passed away, she is a single woman and she works in a stationery store that she opened with her relative Mourhaf in 2008, who is the only provider for his family of four, he works as an employee with a modest salary in addition to his work with Mouna in their store which is located in a populated area and surrounded by many schools, all these factors helped them in the beginning to secure a decent income. This stationery store had witnessed a lot through the war; it was once severely damaged by an explosion that caused big loss for the two partners who did their best to repair it and work again despite all the hard circumstances.

Unfortunately, buying new goods became very hard during this period because of price changes. Thanks to the Micro Projects program they were able to get modern equipment like the computer, the printer and the scanner and thus, increase their income.