Food support holds a family together in northwestern Syria

Imagine yourself in a tent, in the middle of nowhere. There’s no escape from the blistering summer heat or the biting winter cold. The walls of your tent barely shield you and your children from the elements. After 13 years of conflict and displacement, like millions of others, you’ve had to adapt to a life of relentless uncertainty, navigating loss, hope and resilience.

For Abu Ali*, 48, this life is his reality.

Forced from his home countless times, he endured his last displacement in 2019 under a storm of bombs. He arrived at a displaced person’s camp with nothing but his family and a determination to survive.

“Getting a tent here wasn’t easy,” he recalls. “We only wanted a roof over our heads, however flimsy. It was better than nothing.” That tent, though far from adequate shelter, became the sanctuary that would help his family endure.

Working any job that pays

In the camp, Abu Ali takes any work he can find—sometimes farming, other times construction. Yet age has worn down his strength. Surrounded by younger men, he senses their quiet judgment, as if asking, “What is this older man doing here?”

Despite it all, he pushes on. “At my age, I work construction for barely 100 lira,” he says, his voice heavy with fatigue.

To address the food insecurity gripping families like Abu Ali’s, the World Vision Syria Response has launched a vital program, thanks to funding from the World Food Programme, that aims to combat malnutrition and hunger for the most vulnerable. This program provides 4,324 families in northwest Syria with food parcels and food supplements. Abu Ali, like 27,627 others, relies on these parcels—not for abundance but for fragile stability, a bare minimum to survive.

Food support “holds us together”

“These baskets aren’t life-changing,” he reflects, “but they hold us together. They keep us going.” He adds, “These supplements are a blessing, they help fight malnutrition and give our children a small chance to grow strong.”

The supplements, in particular, serve as a vital countermeasure against malnutrition, protecting children and mothers from the severe consequences of nutritional deficiencies.

Abu Ali expresses his gratitude. After living through such challenging conditions, this support is a light in the middle of a dark tunnel. “Thank you from the depths of my heart, and I hope this project continues to support all the people in the camps.”

In a world where so much has been taken from them, the food baskets represent something: a glimmer of hope, a reason to keep going. For Abu Ali, this “something” is a reminder of resilience—a steady hand to hold his family together when nothing else is left.

You can provide life-changing resources to those who need it most with a gift to Where Most Needed .

*Name has been changed to protect identity.