The Shelter Department, a Lifetime Dream!
By the beginning of the annual winter tragedy in camps and following the launch of every relief campaign, we receive many questions wondering, why don't we build something for displaced families better than their tents?
The answer lied in the fact that the continuous shelling and the nonstop displacement waves urged temporary solutions for thousands of people. In other words, providing emergency relief had priority over long-term solutions.
We have long endured blame and accusations that we are not doing enough, or not doing what really needs to be done.
In 2017 - the 5th anniversary of Molham Team, we launched Molham Village project to express our desire to build permanent homes for IDPs. This step created joy deep in our hearts. We also launched a special website that displays the project plan and allows donation for building a part of an apartment. Unfortunately, we could not implement it due to the tense security situation that made us fearful of losing what would be built.
By the time the situation on the ground started to stabilize and the tension eased, we launched 1000 Housing units project in early 2020. As we were the first organization in Syria to come out with this idea, it gained great popularity among donors, who were eager to participate in building home-like rooms for displaced families.
In 2021, we were able to relocate families into the housing units. For more details on the project, you may read 'Molham Shelter for 1000 Displaced Families' blogpost.
In addition, this year, we were able relocate many families to buildings in Molham Village, which now has two finished buildings, and the third one is under construction.
For more details on Molham Village project, you can read these blogposts:
-'Molham Village, One Step Forward!'
All of these efforts were grouped under a new department that was added to Molham Team departments – the shelter department. We always felt proud to help injured people, orphans, and students, but the establishment of the shelter department in 2020 was an extremely proud moment for us. It is our lifetime dream, and also living evidence that the revolution is for a better life and for building, and not for death nor destruction.