Help for Adnan

Adnan is a 2 1/2 year old boy who is a neighbor of one our friend’s sister-in-law here in San Diego. They fled Syria to a neighboring country. He is about to lose his sight without eye surgery and local doctors told his parents that it is a very difficult cornea surgery and he would much more likely recover his sight if he went to Europe for the surgery.

Help for Amina

Amina is the mother of one of our Syrian friends who was resettled here. She is 73 years old and lives alone in one of Syria’s larger cities. She recently had heart surgery and has no one to care for her. She is in need of monthly support to help her to buy medicines and for most basic needs. We would like to be able to send her and other widows ongoing support.

Coronavirus Status in Syria

Syria is Overwhelmed by Coronavirus Read article here

Spread of Covid-19 Has Devastating Consequences for People in Northeast Syria Read article here

We are getting reports from our Syrian friends here that people suffering from Coronavirus in Syria are staying away from hospitals because they are not able to provide any help or that there are no treatments available. We have heard of people going to the hospital for covid symptoms, getting shots, and then dropping dead a few hours later. We have friends whose brothers, sisters and fathers all have Coronavirus and are unable to work. Others are in need for medical care but have no money to pay the hospital for their treatments. They are requested funds for food and to buy medicines. Please consider helping us help as many families as possible by donating on the link on this page and letting us know that you care.

A Different Kind of Ramadan

During the two days after Ramadan, our SWI team distributed dinners to 68 Syrian families, letting them know that even though we are not visiting them in their homes or holding any of our programs, that we are remembering them. More details of this effort and a video can be found on our blog page.

English Friends Program Launch

Over the past several weeks our team has been processing how to best support our Syrian newcomer neighbors. As a result, we have launched a new program that we are calling “English Friends”. Through the program, American and Syrian newcomers connect through a mutually agreed upon social media platform (WhatsApp, Facebook or Zoom) and have conversations through text, phone call or video. More information can be found on our webpage here.

Resources for Syrian Families

We are discovering Syrian families that need food and delivering it to them. We are looking for businesses who can donate staples for these families, for donations to pay for the things we need to purchase for these families, and supporting our delivery costs.

And, we are considering launching a CONTINUING EDUCATION ONLINE PORTAL to support interactive personal connections and educational resources for kids and adults. If you are interested in helping us with this, please write us at info@bridgebuildersnetwork.org.

Program Updates

We have set up a page dedicated to facilitate communication with our Syrian neighbors. It is found here.

There are multiple things going on with our Syrian adult neighbors now:

• not understanding English well, if at all

• not understanding our culture & ways we communicate and share information real time, resulting in getting misinformation or mixed messages within their own community,

• living in cramped apartments with many kids, and many not having well established relationships with local native born Americans who are more in the know.

• being subjected to being re-traumatized from not feeling they have any power or control in their lives.

Please pray for us as we develop this resource and let us know if you would like to help support us in this effort. We do have an active team working hard to help establish wellbeing among our Syrian neighbors.