Photo by Shareef Oubaid
A young refugee holds a Bridge of Peace sign as the water begins to flow in the Al Waleed camp.
After nearly two years without potable water at a refugee tent camp in war-torn Syria, a Fayetteville organization raised enough funds to rehabilitate the camp’s defunct well to provide access to free, clean water for 1500 refugees on Dec. 10.
Videos that were taken the moments following the activation of the well show the children of the Al Waeed camp giggling, screaming, chattering and dancing about as the water began to flow from the faucet. A little girl splashed the water over her face as another little boy moved his mouth in position to get a drink.
About 50 miles south of the Turkish border in northern Syria, the camp sits where a private olive grove used to operate. The well system that irrigated the grove broke down two years ago. Because of the war, it was never repaired. ISIS had cut off the fuel supply, so water deliveries were no longer an option with what little money they had left.
More than $10,000 was raised from hundreds of individual donations — most of which were from Fayetteville and the Northwest Arkansas area — for the rehabilitation of the aquifer well and the building of a gravity-powered 5,280 gallon holding tank that now provides clean water access to 23 faucet taps.
Bridge of Peace Syria, which is based right here in Fayetteville, organized the effort.
The U.S. non-profit, tax-exempt humanitarian aid organization is locally operated by retired couple Moshe and Hamsa Newmark and a board of directors who are dedicated to providing material support to help children, women and families who have been displaced by the war in Syria and have little or no access to food, water, clothing, shelter, fuel for heating, education and other life essentials.
Photo by Shareef Oubaid
Once the blue 5,280 gallon holding tank had been hoisted onto the raised platform built to enhance the gravity flow, the heavy-duty generator arrived for better water pressure at the water taps at Al Waeed refugee camp in Syria.
“It’s incredibly rewarding and incredibly heartbreaking because of the disaster, the genocide and the displacement of millions and millions of people as well as the children’s suffering,” Moshe said. “We’re really grateful that this community has come forward and supported this.”
The organization was founded in 1987 as Puente de Paz (Bridge of Peace, translated from Spanish) to provide aid to the thousands of displaced people in Nicaragua during the Contra War crisis. Puente de Paz financed and helped supervise the building of potable water systems, water testing programs with bacteria-free hand pump installations, a widespread vaccine immunization program and the building of a school, according to the organization’s website.
When the genocidal war in Syria began in 2011, the group turned their efforts to provide humanitarian aid to war refugees in Syria and Turkey, working remotely with Tamer Altaiar, their director of Middle East operations.
“Most people want to do something to help, but they don’t know what they can do,” Moshe said. “We provide an opportunity to make a difference. We’ve become vehicles for people to physically do something and participate.”
Photo by Shareef Oubaid
Children wash their hands at one of the new tap stands on inauguration day of the water system at Al Waeed refugee camp in Syria, about 50 miles south of the Turkish border. The children on the left hoist Bridge of Peace Syria posters.
The organization first received the request to assist with the well back in the summer of 2015 when an epidemic was beginning to take place from the unclean water the people there often scavenged for survival needs.
“If there’s no water, there’s no life,” Moshe said. “This was a project that was most critical and most urgent. What also resonated with us was that when we were founded in 1987 our focus in Nicaragua was on clean water supply in rural areas. It was almost like wow, it’s come full circle 25 years later. We knew how to do this, and it’s definitely something we wanted to do.”
Unfortunately, at one point Altaiar had to step down from Camp Director and had to hand over project duties to Shareef Oubaid, one of his assistants. This concerned the Newmarks at first, but before long Oubaid had proven to be trustworthy and effective.
All of the materials and the crew were sourced in Syria with the money sent overseas. The money was wired through Western Union and verified it ended up in the right hands by local sources Bridge of Peace had established through their network of humanitarians.
Within two months the well was complete and the project stayed within budget.
A lot of the communication during the project was done through Skype and text messaging apps. While the eight hours time difference and language barrier (Oubaid did know some English from studying it in school) proved difficult at first, every step of the way the organization saw to it that the proper steps were taken.
Photo by Shareef Oubaid
Shareef Oubaid poses atop a hill overlook of the tent city that is the Al Waeed camp that hosts 1500 refugees. Oubaid was the project manager for the well rehabilitation project, and serves as the trusted onsite advisor to Bridge of Peace Syria.
“We’re working far away in another country, in another language and culture, and there’s a war going on,” Moshe said. “If you look at all those variables, there’s so many challenges to make sure what we do gets done and gets done right. Hamsa is on the Internet all the time lining things up, making sure they’re done right. You have to go over things again and again, but we get it done right. The proof of the pudding is we post everything that gets done online on our Facebook with photos and videos.”
Nearly every penny of the donations made to Bridge of Peace Syria goes directly to funding humanitarian efforts, Hamsa said.
“Many people have this fear the money will go to a terrorist group, or somebody’s pocket or that the funds will go to the overhead of the organization,” Hamsa said. “We are completely 100 percent volunteer.”
In addition to the well rehabilitation project, Bridge of Peace Syria funds a school for refugee children that includes trauma counseling through art therapy. Many of the children have been able to express their grief and anxiety through the art and look forward to coming to school each day, Hamsa said.
After the success of the well rehabilitation project, the organization is focusing on funding the building of one room cinder block houses for refugee families so they can upgrade from living in tents — not unlike the ones people camp with in the U.S. A house can be built for $250. Hamsa said she puts all of the proceeds that come from her yoga classes toward the school and the housing fund.
“I always ask my students now, do you want to buy a house?” Hamsa said. “We’re a drop in the bucket, but you know a drop in the bucket makes up the bucket. We’re doing what we can.”
If interested in donating or contacting the Newmarks and Bridge of Peace Syria, you can contact them at bridgeofpeacesyria@gmail.com.
“We’re doing a little bit, but if you’re one of those children on the other end who gets to eat that night or gets a roof over their head, that very little bit is the world,” Moshe said. “That drop, if it happens to land on your foot or your life, that drop is big. That’s the way we have to look at it…That’s what makes our day.”
-Edited 1/14/2016
