Becky Gillette – Many people have watched the unfolding tragedy with nearly 467,000 people killed in Syria’s civil war, with 6.6 million people internally displaced and another 4.8 million refugees outside of Syria, according to the United Nations.
Some refugees have been living in tents for years. The tents provide so little protection in cold weather that young refugee children freezing to death is not uncommon. As the five-year civil war drags on, many tents are falling apart.
It is a huge problem, but there is one organization in Northwest Arkansas making a difference in the lives of 1,500 people in the Al-Waleed Camp near the border with Turkey. Hamsa Kurth Newmark and Moshe Newmark of Fayetteville, spoke Sunday in Eureka Springs about Bridge of Peace Syria.
“They do amazing stuff, just the two of them,” said Penny Carroll, a Eureka Springs businesswoman and member of the Bridges of Peace Syria Board of Directors. Carroll helps the organization with taxes and other financial matters. “The work they do is very inspiring. That’s why I got involved in helping them get 501(c)(3) tax exempt status.”
Carroll said when they first started working in Syria in 2014, Bridge of Peace Syria worked on basic needs, including food, baby formula, blankets, coats, shoes and other essentials for the children. Next they built a well water drinking system that uses gravity feed to deliver water to more than 20 tap stands throughout the camp. When the water was turned on, it was the first time some of the younger children had seen running water.
Recently they progressed from that to building one-room homes. So far they have built 14 concrete block homes, with a wood stove, for $307 each.
“For a donation of $307 donation, you can put someone in a house,” Carroll said. “It just blows my mind that you can do that. I lay down in a house every night. I can’t imagine having to sleep in a tent for years. It is so important for people to have walls around them, a place that is their own. Just having that sense of security by having a home is so basic.”
Carroll appreciates that 100 percent of donations go to direct aid, as there are no administrative costs. Some big aid organizations pay high salaries to executives and for administrative costs. Carroll likes feeling every dime she contributes goes directly to help those in need.
Bridge of Peace was registered in 1987 as a non-profit tax-exempt humanitarian aid organization. It first responded in Nicaragua to help victims displaced by the Contra War. The organization helped with creating water systems, providing immunization clinics and building a school.
Currently, they are finishing construction work and furnishing the Bridge of Peace School that will serve three refugee camps, Al-Waleed, Sahl Algaab and Gorba Watan. With a population of 3,800, it will serve initially as an education hub for approximately 120 children, allowing room to grow so hundreds more will be able attend.
Newmark said they feel frustrated the world has turned its head to Syria and failed to take action, like a no-fly zone, that could have prevented many civilian casualties.
“We do what we can,” he said. “We focus on the positive. Hamsa and I traveled recently to Turkey to just a few miles from the border with Syria. We could hear bombs going off. It was very frightening just being there a short time, and it is something that the people of Syria face every day.”
He said as much as the hearts of Americans go out to people killed in terrorist attacks in Paris, Brussels and San Bernardino, those kinds of things are happening to people in Syria every day.
Some people might wonder why they are building permanent homes and schools when it would seem the war should end sometime soon and people return home. But years of war have destroyed many homes, schools and commercial districts.
“The reality is that these temporary camps need to become more permanent villages as there is no home for millions to return to,” Moshe said.
Hamsa Kurth Newmark said each camp has a democratic structure similar to a city council that makes major decisions, and social justice permeates all the work. For example, camp leaders decide which families should get homes, with priority going to widows with children as they have a much harder time surviving than families with mothers and fathers.
The organization has a project manager the Newmarks describes as amazing. The manager directs work with other skilled workers in the camp to operate the water system and build homes and schools. While food, clothing and shelter are highest on the list of priorities for refugees, the Newmarks said education is also critical as children who don’t learn how to read and write are ripe for recruitment by radical fundamentalist terror groups.
Within a week, the school will open. Many of the children haven’t been to school in five years, and younger children never at all. Girls will be allowed to attend school. There will be two male and two female teachers for about 120 students. The school is being powered by solar energy.
Bridges of Peace Syria will hold a fundraiser in Fayetteville Sunday, April 10 from 2 to 5 p.m. at Teatro Scarpino. There will be a silent auction of windbells, magic lanterns and a potpourri of pottery by John Ward. Admission is $5.
For more information about Bridges of Peace Syria, call (479) 530-7468, email bridgeofpeacesyria@gmail.com, or visit the website www.bridgeofpeacesyria.wordpress.com or the Facebook bridgeofpeacesyria.