solo humanitarian aid mission in Damascus, Syria
as i grow older, simply travel without any meaningful goal no longer attracts me. I try to incorporate meaningful activities as i travel now. Syria caught my interest since the fall of Assad regime. I contacted a lot of NGOs in Malaysia that were doing humanitarian aid to Syria to express my desire to join their mission. Some of them didnt not respond, some of them only allow internal staff to join the mission.
i even went to one of the NGO’s office to get info to travel to Syria by myself since no NGOs allow me to join their mission. But all i get is a bit and pieces of information which i suspect they are hiding something.
i asked a friend who is active with NGO. i asked him why NGOs in Malaysia are not cooperative with me and the conversation as shown below:-
me : apsal NGO-A ni nak tak nak share info Syria kat aku?
friend : bende2 ni melibatkan isu keselamatan. sebab tu diorang berhati hati. kene faham
me : soalnya skrg ni, aku mintak info2 kenalan di Damsyik utk buat sumbangan makanan je
friend : mmg la diorang tak nak share sbb diorang tak kenal ko.
me : apsal lak kene kenal aku baru nak share info? aku cuma nak bagi donation je.
friend : donation kene melalui NGO kat msia. tak bole direct terus ke NGO di Damsyik. sbb hal keselamatan. ko kene join NGO tu utk dapatkan kepercayaan diorang.
me : ape risiko keselamatan tu?
friend : ada byk spy skrg
me : kalau ye pon aku spy, ape risikonya kalau aku jumpe NGO kat sane? lainla kalau aku jumpe geng2 mujahideen pon
MEREPEK GILER GENG2 NGO kat Malaysia ni!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i contacted several NGOs in Syria and explained my intention and they quoted me USD65 for a food basket for a family which can lasts for 2 weeks. Quite a pricey donation.
Then I met some Syrians in Malaysia and informed them my intention and they suggested me to buy food at wholesale market called Al-Hal Market سوق الهال (https://maps.app.goo.gl/ASoxmoDK9ptSu8nHA) and donate food directly to the mosque. But the recent bombing in Damascus kind of made me hesitate to go there but eventually I did go and never had any regrets.
Seriously I have no idea how to buy and delivery those food to the mosque. I chose Umayyad Mosque to send my donations and I’ve spoken to the Mudir and he told me I have to manage all the purchase and delivery of the food. They only provide assistance for receiving the food when it arrives. So I went to the wholesale market alone and comparing the prices from various vendors. I found out that we can rent a truck to deliver the food to the mosque which costs SYP100k (USD8.77) per trip. I bought potatoes (USD0.35/kg), eggplant (USD0.26/kg), rice (USD0.91/kg), sugar (USD0.72/kg). I think i spent more efficient this way as compared to if i purchase food basket via the local NGO.
the truck driver took some of the food and donated it to deserving people in his hometown at Autaya اوتايا . He also told me that next time its better to donate food to outskirt places because the people of Damascus not as poor as in the village area like Autaya.
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