Zakat Foundation of America has been on the ground inside Syria and neighboring countries of Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey providing humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees and internally displaced people since March 2011. We work tirelessly every day to seek out those who are still being affected by the ongoing conflict in Syria. Our staff and volunteers witness unimaginable human tragedy and suffering. Here is one such story to give you a glimpse into the desperate situation that Syrians endure day in and day out.
Our Lebanon country representative recounts the experiences of a child named Mohammad Zeino:
I am a Syrian refugee in Lebanon. I came from Hama. My name is Mohammad Zeino. I am 14 years old. Now I live with my big family in Lebanon who are about 30 in number in a small shelter. My house was entirely burnt down in Hama as a result of the Syrian shelling the city. We live in poverty and sometimes we starve because no one of us has a job to earn a living.
I did not only lose my house and my school there, but I also lost one of my eyes. As I was flying from the shelling a wood splinter entered my eye. I did not go to the doctor immediately because we were leaving Syria for Lebanon and we didn’t have enough money. When I went to the doctor, he said my eye was completely damaged and I need a new glass one, but my parents can’t afford fitting it for me. The pain in my eye will go on until I have an eye substitute made of glass.
Please support me to buy this eye so I can live a more normal life like others.
Interviewed by Arwa O. Zeidan
Country Representative Assistant