An Emotional Return
As Amina set foot in her village for the first time in years after the end of the conflict in Syria, a mix of emotions washed over her.
At first, joy filled her when she found that her cherished terrace garden had survived the shelling and aerial attacks. It was almost a sign welcoming her home.
"I was surprised to see my plants standing as if they had waited for me," she says, adding, "While I was forced to live away from my home, in displacement, I often thought of my flowers. Worried that they would wither away with no one around to care for them. I missed the peace of having a cup of coffee in my garden, next to my plants."
But, while seeing her garden brought her joy, the scenes of destruction in her village has weighed heavily on her heart.
"My joy was incomplete, as the extent of destruction in our village was overwhelming," Amina continues.

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Rebuilding Amidst Ruins
Amina, a 53-year-old mother of seven, is among the beneficiaries of GOAL's emergency response programme targeting displaced families who have returned to their villages in eastern Idleb after the end of the conflict in Syria in December 2024. Supported by the EU and other international humanitarian donors, the programme has provided essential cash assistance to over 20,000 people to help them meet urgent needs.
Among the first to return to Sarmin village, Amina's family had hoped to reunite with their neighbours and community. However, it wasn't long before their hopes were all but crushed.
They arrived here carrying nothing other than their longing and tenderness for their homeland but found only destruction.
It was plain to see that Sarmin bore the scars of war, with many houses reduced to rubble by the former government's attacks. Many of Amina’s neighbours who came back, hoping to resettle in their homes, were devastated to see the extent of destruction to their homes and village.
Amina's family home was one of the few left standing.
"Unfortunately, many of our neighbours who returned from places of refuge in Türkiye and various areas in Syria, had no choice but to leave the village again after seeing the current state of their homes. They arrived here carrying nothing other than their longing and tenderness for their homeland but found only destruction," Amina shares.
Families whose homes were destroyed face costly renovations before they can join their community again.

"I was very happy that my daughter and her family, who returned from Türkiye, have been able to fix their house. But sadly, my son was not so lucky. I cried when I saw his house, which he built with his own hands and the sweat of his brows, lying in ruins," continues Amina.
"Those who have the resources can return, but the rest are waiting for God's mercy so that they can find a house fit for living in their own village," she adds.
The destruction of vital infrastructure such as health centres, schools, shops, and bakeries compound their struggle, leaving returnees grappling with a lack of basic facilities essential for daily life.
"Most of the countryside in Syria is uninhabitable, destroyed by the war," Amina observes.
Fleeing into the Unknown
Amina's family was among the millions displaced from their villages, towns, and cities during the nearly 14-year-long conflict in Syria.
The loss of her son in 2013, in an explosion while he was travelling to find work in Northern Aleppo, left a permanent scar on Amina’s heart.
"The day my son Jameel died and the night of the eighth of Ramadan in 2020 are two days I won't ever forget," says Amina wryly.
"The eighth of Ramadan in 2020 was the day we were forced to leave our home. We were getting ready to have the last meal of the day before starting our fast in the morning, but the food and the fragments of the shelling seemed to mix. I can still hear my grandchildren's cries and screams," Amina continues.
"Only my son Omar's shout brought me out of my stupor. 'Please, Mother, let us leave the house and run away from the warplanes, or we will die of this horror even before their bombs reach us.'"

The day my son Jameel died and the night of the eighth of Ramadan in 2020 are two days I won't ever forget.
Fleeing to northern Idleb, Amina's family initially spent weeks in a tent they pitched among the olive trees on the hills surrounding their village.
"To be forced to run like that, in the cold of winter and the middle of the night, was sheer terror. Later, when it rained, we had to let go of even the simple necessities we had taken with us as it was so hard to carry them through the muddy roads. Lulu, my granddaughter's doll, was the only thing that remained by the time we reached the displacement camps of Al Dana further to the north," Amina remembers.
Being displaced was extremely challenging for Amina’s family, old and young alike.
"Most of the time, my husband and I were limited to one meal a day, to save what little food was available for our young grandchildren. But there was never enough food, and the children lost weight and were often sick. There was also no school for them to attend," explains Amina.
Urgent Call for Continued Support
Despite the challenges after returning home, Amina's family cherished the sense of safety that came with the end of the conflict.
"We were very happy to return to our homeland again. We sleep peacefully and feel secure, with no bombing or warplanes above us. My children and grandchildren can play under the sunlight, no longer constrained to the darkness of the tents," Amina shares.
However, she's cautious of what the future may bring. Amina highlights the pressing need for humanitarians to continue providing vital aid and help vulnerable families navigate the uncertainty ahead.
"We were hoping that by now, after nearly two months since the regime's fall, humanitarian organisations would race to help us. But unfortunately, no initiative has been taken except GOAL's emergency response programme," explains Amina, adding, "Our only hope is that we will not be forgotten, because we need everything now, even more than before, as our homes have been destroyed and our villages abandoned."
The sudden and steep rise in the prices of basic goods after the end of the conflict has also created a new layer of challenges for Syria's vulnerable communities.
"We are all shocked by the exorbitantly high prices – especially of gas, fuel, and food. Today, we ran out of cooking gas, and we can't replace the cylinder because we do not have any cash left. We have no choice but to make do with raw foods," Amina shares.

This assistance is important for us. It enables us to secure a loaf of bread and the basics of life. These are all important things that give us optimism.

This assistance is important for us. It enables us to secure a loaf of bread and the basics of life. These are all important things that give us optimism.
A Beacon of Hope in Uncertain Times
Acknowledging that the road ahead might be difficult and conscious that humanitarian aid alone cannot fully address the challenges returnees are facing, Amina says she still finds solace in the aid provided by humanitarian organisations like GOAL. "This assistance is important for us, even if not enough to repair and restore the destroyed houses. It enables us to secure a loaf of bread and the basics of life. These are all important things that give us optimism," she explains.
She's confident that the aid will go a long way in empowering people and giving them a sense of safety, hope, and optimism for a brighter future.
"The assistance also takes a heavy burden off the shoulders of parents, like my son Mustafa, who are worried about their children's future. With the cash aid from GOAL, he could partly pay off his debts and ensure his infant son Mohammed could continue to have milk," she concludes.

GOAL in Syria
After more than a decade of conflict, over 6.8 millions Syrians are internally displaced. 70% of Syrians are in need of humanitarian assistance and relying on aid to survive day-to-day.
GOAL teams have been working on the ground in Syria since the conflict began in 2012. In the last year GOAL's emergency response programme has reached over 287,000 newly displaced people with food, cooking supplies and financial assistance. As GOAL engineers repair damage to water network infrastructure, more than 1.1 million people are now able to access clean drinking water in their homes. A further 430,000 people are benefitting from GOAL's bakery programme in North-West Syria.
Impact in Numbers
+1 million
Providing clean water to over 1 million people
+430,000
Delivering bread to over 430,000 people daily
2.1 million
People supported in 2022
2012
GOAL begins operations in Syria
Louay's Story
Louay Tajiddin, a GOAL Water and Sanitation Engineer in Syria, shares his personal experience of having to leave his job and home due to conflict in Syria.
He highlights the challenges faced by Syrians due to the protracted conflict and the importance of access to basic needs, particularly clean water.
To help vulnerable communities in Syria, Louay used his skills and experience for humanitarian work.
"Seeing more and more vulnerable families suffer under conditions of displacement and conflict was difficult. But I knew that this did not have to be the way. I felt I could do more for my people as someone with expertise in maintaining public service infrastructures. Something that was desperately needed in my community."
Learn more about how Louay and other GOAL staff in Syria, thanks to funding from the European Union, are repairing and delivering clean water to over 800,000 people in northwest Syria.
