From Leila Piazza
Most of the damage to Syria is in the north. Our village is in the middle of the country and while my family felt the quake and aftershocks, we didn’t suffer major damage. In Aleppo and other northern parts of the country, there are thousands dead and a lot of destruction.
Since the war, the Syrian government has had a hard time rebuilding. Because the U.S.-led proxy war failed to depose the Syrian government, the US government refused to offer aid for rebuilding and pressured other countries and the UN to do the same. Sanctions placed on Syria by the US have stifled our ability to bring materials and equipment into the country that would allow us to rebuild. Additionally, sanctions have crippled the economy and made it impossible for the Syrian government to restore the electrical grid. Because of this, Syrians have endured over seven years of extremely limited electricity. The norm is 1 hour of electricity on, 5 hours off, throughout the day. The US army is still “protecting” Syrian oil fields in the north, and so the Syrian government is unable to provide heating oil and gasoline to our people using our own natural resources. Then came the earthquake. Damage in our country was magnified by damage already done during the war, combined with past damage due to flooding in parts of the country.
Emotionally, the earthquake is another disaster in a parade of disasters. First, the war. Since then, extreme cold weather in winter (and little to no heating oil), floods, wildfires, and now, the earthquake. When the earthquake hit last week, the weather had already been cold and stormy. My sister-in-law said: I’m so scared of what’s going to happen. It seems like one thing after another. Even without the earthquake, the storms are scary. It’s been raining so hard and the wind is so strong. No electricity, no oil to heat our homes. We ask ourselves, what will happen next?
As for ways to help, I’ll be honest. I don’t support NGOs. My experience is that they are part of the capitalist war machine. Name a dictator, declare we will free the people. Destroy the country, create hunger and famine, then go in with contractors to rebuild what we’ve destroyed and NGOs to feed the hungry people. If the US doesn’t get the desired outcome the first time around, we double down on sanctions and extend the suffering. At this point, NGOs are the only part of the machine at work in Syria and that is mostly in the north in the “liberated,” Turkish-occupied and administered areas where the radical groups we called the “Free Syrian Army” settled after the war and are considered refugees. I know this is counter to the public narrative here about the good these groups do, but I don’t believe in this system. It supports imperialism and racism.
Having said that, I do encourage people to give to IOCC (International Orthodox Christian Charities). IOCC does some work through NGOs but is able to more carefully target how funds are used. A major pipeline for aid is through the church itself. Local priests are able to give to people in their parish based on need. Due to the personal knowledge of the people, they can give in a very efficient way. Despite the fact that it is a Christian organization, our priests will give to anyone in the area, including Muslims of any sect (80% of Syrians are Muslim).
I am working on setting up some fundraising plans through Syrian Home Cooking. My plan is to go to Syria this summer and hopefully have funds to take with me. This won’t happen in a way that can provide immediate aid, but my brother was telling me that it costs about $1,500 US dollars to set up solar power for one home in Syria (wish it was that here!). I am wondering if I might be able to help some people in our village install solar panels, either providing 100% of funds for a limited number of homes, or by providing a subsidy to help more people. Right now, people use generators, but as I mentioned, fuel is scarce, and solar power would provide a long-term, ecologically safe alternative. I’d also like to take funds for food and education supplies, as I did in 2018.
Finally, I offer, anytime, to meet with anyone who would like a deeper understanding about what happened in Syria, the role the US (and our tax dollars) played, and what is happening now. People in our community are encouraged to write their representatives and demand an end to US sanctions against Syria, the US army to leave our country and return our oil fields, and an end to future imperialist proxy wars.
Thank you for caring!
Leila