Russian military personnel delivered 3.5 tons of food and school supplies with toys to children in the Syrian village of Shamid al-Mahadra in the province of Latakia, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on January 15.
“Getting toys, gifts, sweets, any child will be happy, and here, in the current situation in the country, this is especially important for them,” said Vladimir Morozov, a representative of the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Warring Parties.
About 500 families, or about 6,000 people, live in the Shamid al-Mahadra village. In each of them there are men who serve in the Syrian army, and in almost every one there are those killed or wounded in the war, said the head of the administration of the village, Mazar Kherbek. People mainly grow citrus fruits and olives, which brings a modest income, so Russia’s humanitarian aid is in great demand.
“Out of 500 families, almost every one has the dead. Another 350 people were injured. Many were disabled. Today, many men from our village serve in the Syrian army and defend their homeland from militants,” Mazar Kherbek added.
What is war, the inhabitants of the village of Shamid al-Mahadra in the foothills of Latakia know firsthand. And although there were no militants here, shells and mines flew here too.
“I have eight children – three sons and five daughters. Two sons died in the war. One is in the city of Duma in Eastern Ghouta near Damascus. This happened in December 2012. And the second son died two months later, in February 2013 in Aleppo,” shared a local resident Suhel Ibrahim Myhrez.
In Syria, most often the center of the village is the place where the mosque is located. Friday prayers were over, but people knew that the Russian Center for Reconciliation of Warring Parties would bring food packages and gifts for schoolchildren. Therefore, around the mosque is crowded. People in Shamid al-Mahadra have always lived modestly. The ancestors of the locals said that when they managed to build a mosque, there was a real holiday. The inhabitants of the village and a hundred years later are proud of the building in honor of George the Victorious.
The war brought another problem to the village – refugees from Idlib and Aleppo. Large families would have been on the verge of survival if not for the help of their fellow villagers, and, more recently, the Russian military.
“When the war started, our family was forced to flee Aleppo. In the end, we found shelter in this village. I have five sons. Three of them are already adults and fought in the ranks of the Syrian army in the same place, in the province of Aleppo. And one son died. The state paid us a small compensation for our dead son. But the money quickly ran out. Now my sons and I work in the garden here, we pick oranges and olives. And if not for this work, I don’t know how we would live. We simply had nothing to eat. Huge gratitude to Russia and the Russian people for this help. This is very important for us,” Amira Nisami told her story.
While the adults were delivering food parcels to their homes, the children were sorting out their gifts. The girls were surprised to learn that sweets were hidden in soft toys. And the boys busily studied the contents of the backpacks and changed: someone liked blue more, someone – green.
The Russian military distributed 3.5 tons of food and school supplies in just over an hour. Everyone had enough. And if the children came up for the addition of sweets, then they certainly received it.
Earlier, on January 11, the hospital of Tishrin University, the largest in Syrian Latakia, received the necessary medicines, toys and sweet gifts for child patients from representatives of the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Warring Parties (CPVS) in the SAR. At the request of the Syrian doctors, who compiled a list of necessary items, the CPVS, together with military doctors, brought a large batch of medicines.
Source: IZ
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
