In 2024, we supported the restoration of 60 homes damaged by the earthquake in the cities of Aleppo and Baniyas, Syria.
in which vulnerable people live, who would never have had the possibility of repairing the damage, but who nevertheless continued to live in unsafe and risky apartments, putting their own lives at risk.
“My house is more beautiful than before”
Imad lives with his wife and two children in a small, poorly built house. He is an English teacher, but during the Syrian war he lost his job and still cannot practice his profession because he contracted Parkinson’s disease , “which I now live with.” His wife also suffers from debilitating health problems.
The earthquake has added a huge burden to their already strained lives: “My house is very old and had serious plumbing problems. After the earthquake, the situation worsened dramatically. Thankfully, the R.I.S.E. program intervened, repaired the damage and made my house more beautiful than before. “.
“Years of suffering erased by a finally safe home”
Elias, who lives in Aleppo, found himself in a similar situation: he and his wife suffer from heart problems and require constant medical care. Years of conflict, humidity, and the recent earthquake had made their home unsafe and unhealthy, compromising the serenity of their family (they have four daughters). 
Unfortunately, they did not have the financial means to emerge from this degradation, “not even for the most urgent works” .
However, with the intervention of the R.I.S.E. program , Elias can now live in a renovated house, where special work has been carried out to remove the humidity.
“The happiness of no longer seeing cracks in the walls”
“The walls were full of cracks, some windows were broken and there was a serious mold problem”: Eptsam ’s story is also tinged with sadness, when he recalls the condition of the walls and window frames of his apartment.
She continues: “My husband is an employee, but given the dire economic situation in Syria, we only have a reduced salary and we certainly couldn’t afford the renovation costs.”
Then, however, when he looks around and no longer sees the cracks in the walls, he is happy, despite all the pain he has experienced up to now.