University students collecting donations for besieged Syrian city

AMMAN — University students have launched an initiative to deliver financial aid to the residents of the besieged Syrian city of Madaya, many of whom are starving due to the lack of food and supplies, according to organisers.

“The idea of the campaign first started when my friends and I decided not to have lunch and to collect money from other friends instead, and donate it to the Syrians,” said Rose Sari, one of the campaign’s organisers at the University of Jordan (UJ).

“We collected an unexpected amount of money that day, the response was positive.”

After the students raised JD100 on Saturday, they posted the initiative on Facebook and other social media networks, Sari added.

“Our goal was to collect around JD300 to 400, but on the second day of the initiative, we collected more than JD1,400,” the fifth-year pharmacy student noted. “Everyone shared the initiative and took pictures of the volunteers to spread the word.”

She said the students will be collecting money from each faculty separately and giving all the donations to the Molham Volunteering Team to deliver it to Syria by the end of the week. 

The first batch of donations, where the number of contributors amounted to 2,500 since December 31, 2015 was delivered to the city on Saturday via the Molham Team, according to Sari. 

“When the donations were delivered to Madaya we were reassured that the organisation can reach the civilians, which is why we started our campaign,” she told The Jordan Times.

The Molham Volunteering Team, a non-profit organisation established in 2012 by a group of Syrian citizens who fled to Turkey, seeks to help displaced Syrians living in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey. 

On Monday, a humanitarian aid convoy entered Madaya, where more than two dozen people are reported to have died of starvation, Agence France-Presse quoted the Syrian Arab Red Crescent as saying.

“Two trucks carrying food and two others full of blankets entered Madaya at 5pm,” an official from the organisation told AFP, referring to the rebel-held town besieged by the army for six months.

“They [Syrians] might not receive the whole amount, but if they receive 1 per cent of it, it would help; we don’t want to lose more people,” Sari said.

She noted that students from different backgrounds contacted the organisers and requested more information on the initiative.

Huda Mohammad, a Syrian student who is also one of the organisers, said the campaign is aimed at engaging students in ways to address the conflicts surrounding them. 

“Crying over something is not enough; we, as students, have to act,” she added.

Mohammad noted that many students who wish to donate have a hard time finding organisations to deliver the aid to the cities under siege.

“Students want to find an opportunity to donate… Jordanians and foreign students participated with us. We want to be the focal point that links students and organisations,” she said.

“Many people contacted us on Facebook ... They were all waiting for an opportunity,” Mohammad said. “This restores one’s hope and faith in the world.” 

Students said the initiative will continue until Thursday and the volunteers will be receiving donations in front of UJ’s main library.  

More information is available on the campaign’s official page https://www.facebook.com/molhamteam2/.