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as per February 2026

The eagerly awaited economic recovery in Syria proves to be an extremely slow process. Following the devastating earthquakes in 2023 and the bloody conflicts in the Gaza Strip in 2024, which caused further massive destruction in the immediate vicinity, Syria experienced an unexpectedly rapid and largely unopposed political upheaval in December 2024. However, the renewal, which was enthusiastically welcomed above all by the country’s youth and the international media, has yet to materialize. After the initial euphoria, there was a sobering realization that reshaping the country takes time and that, unfortunately, there is no guarantee that the liberal society announced in the media, with tolerance for minorities and the inclusion of all groups, will succeed.

Syrian Christians, especially the young helper teams who are local partners of Korbgemeinschaft and have formed in ten locations since February 2023, starting in Aleppo, see the challenging situation as an opportunity to show how much good Christian charity can do. At the same time, these groups are courageously and resolutely ensuring that the tolerance and inclusion promised by the new administration are actually lived and upheld. We are indescribably proud of the courage and trust in God demonstrated by our local partners. The focus of our support activities in 2024 and 2025 was largely guided by the constantly changing challenges. For our work in 2026 we are also bearing in mind that our plans need to remain flexible to a certain degree so that we can respond quickly to changes in the local situation and frame conditions.  

Support for the helper teamsof Korbgemeinschaft

  • Starting with the first team in Aleppo, ten local partner teams have meanwhile been established in Aleppo, Safita, Latakia, Sadad, Homs, Damascus, Maarouneh, Tartous, Hauran, and Zabadani. We managed to coordinate support to create the necessary infrastructure for these teams, primarily premises, office supplies, and equipment, so that they can convene and work jointly; 
  • For the exchange of work experience and best practices and to strengthen cohesion and perseverance during difficult and sometimes even dangerous periods, an annual meeting of all ten teams is facilitated;
  • Provision of money and urgently needed humanitarian goods for fair and controlled distribution by the Christian helper teams, to provide support to the poorest parish members;
  • Constant exchange with the teams of helpers, documentation of activities, distribution lists, photos, videos, feedback from beneficiaries;
  • Calling for donations and collecting support so that Korbgemeinschaft’s “basket”  of charity keeps being refilled and doesn’t get empty;

Continuation of relief goods collections, with a focus on those items most urgently needed at any given point of time

  • There is still a need for warm clothing, robust shoes, warm blankets, bedding, mattresses, robust household goods, well functioning small tools of any type, walking aids and nursing aids for the old and injured, items for babies and children. In addition to the second-hand humanitarian items, we also need financial assistance to cover the container shipment costs. At the moment, these amount to approx.  EUR 5,500 per 40 feet container);
  • In 2024, we managed to send five containers (four from Austria and one from Germany), which were – as always – tightly packed. In 2025, six containers were sent from Austria and one from Bavaria. We are grateful for any offer of volunteer help for this work. 
  • A room in the building of the Bakery of Grace in Maarouneh, northeast of Damascus, is still being used to pre-sort and store the many humanitarian goods from the container shipments, before they are distributed to their respective final destinations (nursing and old people’s homes, kindergartens, schools, poor families, etc.).

Building repairs and renovations (usually longer-term projects)

  • One major project was the renovation of a Lazarist guest house complex for recreational stays of disabled persons and accompanying family members looking after them, in the coastal village of Kafar Seta, about 30 km north of Tartous.;
  • Addition of two upper floors to the Bakery of Grace, a first upper floor for receiving and sorting our humanitarian goods from the container shipments, a second upper floor for the interim storage of wholesale deliveries and locally produced items for the SOMA stores;
  • Renovation of two schools and a preschool (kindergarten) in Sadad for students up to grade 9;
  • Expansion of a solar system on the roof of the Al-Inayeh School in Aleppo to provide additional electricity for the school and for two rooms used by our local helper team;
  • Solar system for the St. Therese Church in Aleppo.
  • The main drinking water pump in the village of Maarouneh, which also provides the water for bread production at the Bakery of Grace, broke down in 2024 and needed to be replaced;
  • Search for a suitable water source and drilling work for a well, primarily for agricultural use; 

Various supports for daily survival

  • Emergency packages containing basic food as well as hygiene and baby products have been and continue to be organized for particularly needy families; in a number of cases, rent subsidies have been granted to prevent homelessness; this form of emergency aid is supported by both small donors and several aid organizations;
  • In special cases of hardship, we try to keep providing means or at least contributing to the costs of urgent medical treatments and medication;  
  • Easter packages for poor families, including eggs and chicken meat;
  • Support for widows, orphans, and mothers with disabled children;
  • Promotion of income-generating activities, especially for women, with the aim of gradually reaching a self-sustaining level;
  • Help for internally displaced persons in 2024 during the Islamist invasion of Aleppo;
  • Support for impoverished priests so that they can remain faithful to their calling, and subsidies for mobility expenses so that pastoral duties can also be fulfilled in widely scattered parishes;
  • Winter emergency aid;
  • Purchase of goats;
  • Support to subsidize the salaries of church employees, including the nursing staff in an old people’s home;

Bakery of Grace

  • Due to ongoing economic setbacks, the Bakery needed subsidies to cover its operating costs up to and including 2024. These costs are meanwhile largely balanced, but continued support is required for major repairs, wear parts, and maintenance work;

Social Markets (SOMA stores)

  • Planning of several SOMA stores in existing buildings; opening of the first SOMA store at the end of 2025 in Maarouneh; further openings planned for 2026 in the Valley of the Christians (Mashta-Azar and Safita), and – depending on the success of these stores – possibly later also in Latakia, Damascus, and other locations;
  • The SOMA stores are open to both paying customers and people in need. The latter will receive shopping credits determined by Korbgemeinschaft. This is intended to render SOMA stores self-sustaining in the long run.

Continuation of ongoing projects and further project plans

  • Support for church kindergartens and schools (renovations, subsidies to the   salaries of pedagogues);
  • School materials, support for school and study fees of children of very poor families;
  • Cooperation for medical help;
  • Repairs and technical improvements in churches and parish buildings;
  • Support for priests so that they can fulfill their social and pastoral tasks;
  • Support for scout groups and summer camps for children, teenagers and catechists;
  • Mediating the donation of used agricultural machinery and/or purchasing new machinery;
  • Mediation of work equipment and tools for small and family businesses;
  • Agricultural projects with a focus on creating jobs, including in particular jobs for women (e.g. processing and refining of products)

YOUR help

We are grateful for ANY support, be it material or non-material, through donations of money or goods, through ideas, suggestions, the mediation of contacts and, last but not least, through prayer and advocacy.

Given the ongoing need for humanitarian supplies, we are urgently looking for additional helping hands to collect, sort, package, temporarily store and load the donated items into the transportation containers. Please see the separate menu item “YOUR HELP”.

In the menu item “My donation makes a difference” you will find photos and videos of projects that have been carried out. Please see for yourself how efficiently your donation helps, how it is transformed into bread and other essential goods and support services. In a direct manner, on a 1: 1 basis and on an eye level, protecting the dignity of the recipients and thus committed to the Christian spirit of genuine, compassionate charity.  

We should like to thank particularly the following aid organizations and all the helpers who have so far supported our work. We very much hope for their continued support in the future.

  • Archdiocese of Munich and Freising (Germany)
  • Archbishopric of Paderborn (Germany)
  • Bishopric of Passau (Germany)
  • Cathedral Chapter and Metropolitan Chapter of Vienna (Austria)
  • Catholic Diocese of Stockholm (CDSS, Sweden)
  • Catholic workers’ movement St. Lantpert, Freising (Germany)
  • Catholic Administration for Mission and Development Aid (St. Gallen, Switzerland)
  • Church in Need (Austria)
  • Diocese of St. Poelten (Austria)
  • Erik Ager Foundation (Stockholm, Sweden))
  • Group of Foreign-language Catholic communities (Austria)
  • Group of German friends (Germany)
  • Group of Hungarian friends (Hungary)
  • ICO (Initiative Christian Orient, Austria)
  • MA 27 of the City of Vienna (Austria)
  • Medjugorje-Gruppe (Switzerland)
  • Missio Munich (forwarding donations from German friends)
  • Missio Austria
  • Non-profit institution Korbgemeinschaft (Switzerland)
  • Pfander-Grieder-Foundation (Switzerland)
  • Private donors
  • Various initiatives by parishes, collections at birthday parties, a Syria food & culture & information event, voluntary services for and assistance with the collection and transportation of humanitarian goods.

We are also very grateful for the numerous donations in kind, for large and small monetary donations, some of which have been set up as standing monthly orders to Korbgemeinschaft, and for the work and time provided by the volunteers in sorting, packing, labeling and loading the numerous humanitarian goods into the transportation containers.

May God bless you for your compassion!

By admin