Middle East
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Beirut’s schoolchildren need our help to rebuild their lives
Beirut’s schoolchildren need our help to rebuild their lives Lebanon’s multiple simultaneous crises are fuelling domestic abuse, child exploitation, child marriages and child labour, writes Emma Pajunen, FCA’s humanitarian assistance coordinator living in Beirut. FCA has begun work in schools affected by the Beirut port explosion. I recently visited a Beirut school, where we are […]
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Education brings safety and hope for children in emergencies
Education brings safety and hope for children in emergencies Education is a powerful mean to break out of the vicious cycle of poverty and instability, writes FCA’s regional direction Ashraf Yacoub. A decade into the conflict, millions of Syrians inside the country find themselves displaced and unable to access food, shelter, work or essential health […]
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Crises may pave the way to a brighter future
Crises may pave the way to a brighter future As I am writing this, the Covid-19 pandemic is dominating the news and daily politics for the second year running. In fact, this topic has overshadowed other news to such an extent that it is hard to remember what went on in the world before Covid-19 […]
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Emerging stronger after Covid-19
Emerging stronger after Covid-19 Distance learning, quarantines and travel bans. Lockdowns, cancelled events, and hundreds of online meetings. Remembered as the year of the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020 was an exceptional year for everyone, including Finn Church Aid, writes executive director Jouni Hemberg. Conditions have been dire in our programme countries before; however, this was the […]
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Ten years of war have passed, and Syria’s humanitarian disaster deepens
War-torn Syria has descended into a financial crisis that worsens the country’s humanitarian situation. Children living through the war need moments in which they can just be children. “How can I ever repay my country? I have been told that it is too tough for someone my age to ask, but I am growing up […]
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Why the coronavirus pandemic should not put all other crises on hold
The coronavirus pandemic does not mean that other crises are less urgent but it has rapidly restricted work with development cooperation, humanitarian aid, peacebuilding and climate change. We now have to fight many battles at the same time.
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Grenade strike at a football game left 15-year-old Abdusalaam handicapped and changed his future
I was in Mafraqi, on the Jordanian side near the Syrian border, watching as people arrived at a prosthesis clinic to be treated. Many of the arrivals had lost a leg or an arm in the war across the border. They had been brought across the border to receive treatment, since there was none on […]
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Eighth year of war begins in Syria, and the situation for civilians is worse than ever
Seven years have left behind unimaginable destruction and human suffering.
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Amman Calling
How would you feel sending your children to study in a school that was damaged in battle and had no learning materials available? What would you think if your child was attending a class much lower than other children his age because the exams were in a foreign language and he couldn’t pass them? Would […]
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“I wish Syria would get back on its feet!”
Reading the newspapers in Jordan, one sees stories every day about how many Syrians have again crossed the border to Jordan. According to today’s paper, 67 refugees had entered the country within 48 hours. After emergency personnel had tended to the wounded, the refugees were taken to the safety of a refugee camp. All of […]
