South African humanitarians say the situation in Syria is “dire” and they have appealed to locals to continue donating.
Social activist and founder of #OperationSA, Yusuf Abramjee, and Al-Imdaad Foundation trustee, Qari Ziyaad Patel, returned from the Turkish / Syrian border at the weekend.
The pair said what they saw over five days “continues to haunt us it is painful. We are still on an emotional roller coaster”.
Abramjee and Patel were given official permission to enter Syria through a “safe humanitarian corridor”.
“It’s winter in the region. It’s bitterly cold and raining and snowing in some areas,” Abramjee said.
Millions of Syrians were forced to leave their homes because of the war.
“We saw the good, bad and ugly. It was good to see all the humanitarian efforts. But more needs to be done. We saw the bad in terms of orphans and widows suffering. And we saw the very ugly side to the war such as people paralysed,” Abramjee said.
There are some three million Syrian refugees on the border with Turkey.
“There are 1500 orphans (aged two to 12) in Reyhanli alone,” added Abramjee.
Patel said that in addition to food, clothing, mattresses and blankets, baby food and medicines were also urgently needed.
To pledge, SMS 072 399 9999 or go to www.operationsa.org.
#OperationSA has received R15.1million in pledges over the past three weeks.
Almost R11m has been paid.
R9.7m has been distributed to seven charities.