Below average rains in the Oromia, Amhara, Somali and Afar regions of the country have led to new instances of drought, leaving 5.6 million people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.

IR Ethiopia has conducted a rapid needs assessment in 2 zonal areas, including Afder, which is the hardest hit area.

Islamic Relief is the only international humanitarian organization with a presence in Afder.

The main needs are water, food and livestock protection (emergency livestock feeds).

The dry season is projected to continue until April 2017.

The affected population in Ethiopia is facing a humanitarian crisis as the drought is expected to become more severe in the coming months.

 

Blankets, food and water supplied to thousands who have fled their homes as winter sets in.

Since Friday (December 16), more than 10,300 people have fled eastern Aleppo to rural areas outside the city and to neighboring Idlib, 37 miles (60km) away.

And in the last three days alone Islamic Relief’s team in Syria has reached 3,500 people, distributing blankets, mattresses and plastic sheets as well as food, water bottles and wheat flour to make bread.

We continue to prioritize our response for those fleeing Aleppo and our team is now assessing needs in other areas and monitoring the situation as it develops.

UN figures show nearly half a million people across Syria have fled their homes since the start of the year, not including the latest displacement of people from Aleppo.

As the spotlight is focused on Aleppo, waves of displacements are continuing in other parts of the country, leaving families in urgent need as temperatures drop and winter draws in.

In a 17-day period up to mid-December nearly 40,000 people in eastern Aleppo had already left their homes and thousands are still waiting to leave.

Now, 700 people are fleeing the two besieged towns of Foah and Kefraya in neighbouring Idlib province.

A key feature of Islamic Relief’s response in Syria is the funding of sustainable projects including education, health, water, sanitation and hygiene, which will support displaced people to live dignified lives.

 

Please donate to support our work in Syria here.

For media interviews and access to Islamic Relief’s photography and video footage from Syria please contact international media coordinator Mohammad Shakir on +442075933237 or +447747022590 or email Mohammad.Shakir@irworldwide.org

 

A man drops to his knees displaying the peace sign with both hands after fleeing Aleppo by bus

Widows in rural Kosova are being supported to set up their own sewing businesses.

Islamic Relief is reaching out to the most disadvantaged group of widows in Kosova, supplying sewing machines and tailoring training.

In the rural areas of Drenas and Pristina unemployment is one of the biggest issues facing communities, and for women raising families alone the situation is particularly challenging.

After rolling out training for 32 widows, Islamic Relief has employed seven women at a mini clothes factory, supplying sewing machines to 10 more, allowing them to work from home.

After Aferdita (pictured right) lost her husband she was unable to find work and struggled to support her family.

She said: “I never thought I would find a job in my life, or have the skills to go out and earn my own money.

“I was very eager to learn new skills but my life took me in other directions and I never got the chance, so this was great for me.

“I have a high attention to detail and learning how to produce different types of clothing required a lot of devotion and care.

“As head of the household – and also a mother – I feel empowered.”

Future proposals include adding a shop to the factory where the women will be able to sell their goods.

Find out more about our work in Kosova here.

Islamic Relief’s Syria team is poised to support thousands of people fleeing the city.

Our team in Syria is preparing a distribution plan to ensure that emergency aid items stocked in our warehouses outside Aleppo are delivered where people need them most.

Up to 100,000 residents are expected to leave the city in the coming days and travel to safer areas in northern, western and southern Aleppo, as well as to the city of Idlib.

“Thousands of lives have been lost and the people of Aleppo have suffered terribly through many months of siege conditions, bombardments and fierce fighting,” says our Head of Mission for Syria, Mohamed Goumni.
“Our prayer is that the evacuation will be completed as straightforwardly and peacefully as possible, and our Syrian staff and volunteers are working hard to provide displaced people with food and medical aid.”

For months our team on the ground in the area surrounding Aleppo have been helping to distribute fresh bread to families driven from their homes.

Now we are stepping up this operation to support larger numbers of displaced and evacuated people, assessing the needs of new arrivals in order to support them with immediate distributions of cooked meals, baby milk and hygiene kits.

Islamic Relief’s emergency response for those fleeing Aleppo also includes providing medicines to health centres and stocking local bakeries with wheat flour for fresh bread.

And as winter is drawing in, our teams are preparing to help families who have left their homes behind by providing seasonal support including heaters with fuel, clothes and boots, and nutritious meals.

Our Syria team is coordinating with Syrian organisations in the area to ensure emergency aid is delivered in the most effective way possible.

Islamic Relief has been working in Syria since 2011 and has assisted more than 6.5 million Syrians – most of them inside the country but also hundreds of thousands of refugees who have fled to Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.

We continue to lobby the international community to halt the conflict, and call for essential humanitarian corridors.

Please donate to support our work in Syria here.

For media interviews please contact international media coordinator Mohammad Shakir on +442075933237 or +447747022590 or email Mohammad.Shakir@irworldwide.org