“The Seeds of Hope group” originates from spiritual roots linked to the Bible and embodies the spirituality of its unity through the work of Mary – Focolare. This translates the idea of unity into a lifestyle of serving humanity, communities, and institutions, believing that everyone can perform their indispensable role among all nations. They can achieve their own prosperity through their ability to share their unique heritage with the rest of humanity in order to achieve the highest level of reciprocity among individuals, communities, and nations in an exchange that is free, equitable, generous, and fully convinced of sharing their ethical and material wealth.

With this in mind, the Seeds of Hope group has been operating under the sponsorship and blessing of the Latin Archbishopric in Syria since 2012. They have established an office in Aleppo to manage sustainable cooperation programs and activities in Syria.

The group operates with its standards and strategies for citizenship and comprehensive human development, implementing a series of measures aimed at achieving the objectives of the emergency program in Syria. This program aims to improve the social and health conditions of economically disadvantaged families by enhancing food security, ensuring continuity of education for vulnerable children and youth, improving the physical, mental, and emotional conditions of the most vulnerable individuals, improving housing conditions, focusing especially on those suffering from chronic illnesses and trauma, and on children with special needs. Additionally, they work on professional development and rehabilitation for the most vulnerable citizens, especially women and youth, to empower them to enhance their human progress and vocational training.

Moreover, they work on increasing the capacity of local partners to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable citizens, alongside a productive program aimed at increasing the ability to initiate and manage income-generating activities, applying the experiences and skills that participants already possess in managing income-generating activities, and enhancing the psychological flexibility of the participants.

In short, we believe in developing the unity among people and unity among nations, and that human development is the path to integrated growth that occurs when all dimensions of a person—physical, mental, social, and spiritual—are realized, with mutual giving being the key to this developmental process.

The medical project

The medical project “Candle of Hope” in Homs continues to provide its services to patients, including medication, surgeries, especially for cancer and kidney patients. Additionally, in its second year, the medical project in Hama continues to serve cancer and kidney patients at the “Wing of Love”.

The Families Project

The Syrian citizen faces an unreasonable increase in prices, which escalates linearly with every event that occurs in the country that has been suffering from war for over nine years. With every global crisis or problem like COVID-19 or the collapse of oil prices, Syrians are surprised by an increase in the prices of food, consumables, and even luxuries. The living and humanitarian situation in Syria worsens day by day due to economic conditions deteriorating, and the lack of equality between income and expenses.

Family heads can no longer provide for their families even if they work more than one job a day. Families need more than one person to work to secure their main income. In addition, high proportions of the population rely on external support and on the work of relief organizations within the country. The Family Project aims to improve the social, economic, and health conditions of the most economically vulnerable families by improving food security, ensuring children’s education continuity, improving physical and mental health conditions, and enhancing housing conditions through groups of volunteers who regularly visit families and strive to provide social and moral support.

Vocational Training

In all societies, there must be individuals practicing various professions to meet people’s needs and serve them in different fields. Therefore, society needs every kind of different professions.

For this reason, preparing to master any profession should be based on a clear methodology in solving problems related to that profession and making the right decisions in it. A professional in their field never relies on randomness, as it can be a hindrance to its development. Therefore, preparing for a profession should involve acquiring a set of knowledge and information. Professional work for the individual is a guarantee for their future and a way to earn a living, as well as creating a sense of identity and respect in their society.

Plumbing course in Homs governorate

Training young people on the plumbing profession (sanitary installations) and supporting them to learn the profession in all its details so that they can work in it in the future, through a professional course consisting of two stages. The first stage is theoretical training, where trainees receive basic information about the profession and learn about the types of tools and how to use them. The second stage is practical training to apply what they learned in the first stage, through maintenance work and implementing home installations that have been damaged by war and need to be restored, so that homeowners can return to their homes that they have abandoned during wartime.

The Flame Centre for Women’s Support and Empowerment in Homs governorate

Women play a major role in developing ways of working in various fields, and their role is not limited to professional positions in society, but they have an important and fundamental role in building generations. Based on the need to support women educationally and professionally, the project continues its journey in the city of Homs to support and empower women professionally, educationally, and socially in order to activate their role and improve their families and society. So that they become active women in society capable of relying on themselves and starting their own projects.

The centre offers the following courses: (candle and soap making, food industries, women’s hairdressing, sewing, English language, literacy, ICDL).

The Gold Thread Centre in Homs governorate

The Gold Thread Centre serves throughout the year four different groups of women through three professional courses (sewing – machines – embroidery) held in succession, to establish them in the profession of sewing academically, so they can secure job opportunities to economically support their families. During the past year 2021, the third group, with a spirit of participation and reciprocity, knitted school uniforms for the children of Little Dreams School in Banias during the practical application of the training course, and the Gold Thread team went to Banias to share the children’s joy with the new uniforms. At the end of the year, the fourth and final participants in the centre’s courses, and women from “Fairuzah” village knitted Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus costumes, and the embroidery course participants embroidered a Santa Claus bag as well. These clothes were used in several places to bring joy to children when distributing gifts.

Elderly-Care Course in Aleppo and Damascus Governorates

Among the most vulnerable groups, elderly people face more difficulties at this time more than ever, especially in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic. Although all age groups are at risk of contracting COVID-19, the elderly are more susceptible to complications leading to death or persistent diseases after infection with the virus, at a rate five times higher than other age groups. The virus not only threatens the lives and safety of the elderly, but also threatens their social health, access to healthcare services, jobs, and livelihoods.

The need for elderly care is increasing by the day, and based on this need, the “Caregiver” project is being renewed to train individuals on how to interact with and care for the elderly on all levels medically, some physical therapy and caring for the elderly’s nutrition. Dealing with chronic diseases in the elderly and their psychological and behavioural changes, as well as memory problems through a professional course lasting 6 months, including two sections: a theoretical section where trainees receive various information through lectures and activities, and a practical section where they visit some elderly individuals and provide assistance to them.

Educational Support

Children have the right to play, enjoy, and also need basic education, reading, writing, and culture in order to develop their personality and integrate into society. It is their right to learn inside and outside of school.

In support of children’s right to learn and to help parents bear the burdens of life, the project organizes activities for children in various occasions. During the Christmas season, the project held a carnival for all the beneficiary children in Aleppo, and children from Mary’s work were also invited to participate. At the end of the carnival, gifts were presented to the children.

In Damascus, the children attended a Christmas recital at the Opera House, which was a special activity that delighted the children.

In Kafr Buhum, volunteers prepared a lunch activity in a restaurant with simple games for the children.

The Generation of Hope Centre in Homs Governorate

The Generation of Hope Centre works to support children academically by providing means of communication and education that meet the needs of children and help them to continue and enrich their education through reinforcement lessons, after-school support, and educational materials for children aged 1 to 15 years. Throughout the year, the centre organizes various educational and recreational activities for children, and also monitors children with learning difficulties with specialists and children with speech difficulties with speech therapists. The centre also works on integrating children with disabilities in classrooms and monitoring their cases.

The Little Dreams Centre in Baniyas City

The Centre provides academic support for elementary school children after school to strengthen them and compensate for their educational losses due to the country’s conditions. In addition, it provides psychological and social support for children through various activities and follow-ups.

Suzana’s kindergarten in Aleppo governorate

in order to achieve peace and spread it in the world, you must know how to show our children good morals, as innocence, purity, and love are all great assets that appear in children.

A child begins his life as a being dependent on others, and the child must rely on adults to receive the care and guidance he needs to grow and become independent, with the family providing this support as well as the school and the surrounding environment.

The kindergarten began its first activities in the summer with a summer school for children for three months.

At the start of the school year in September 2021, Suzana’s kindergarten began its work with children aged 3-6 years, divided into four classes according to their ages.

The first semester began with high enthusiasm, aiming to achieve the kindergarten’s main goal of supporting and developing children, providing educational foundations, and creating a balanced social, psychological, and educational environment, as well as focusing on children’s talents, encouraging them to integrate and interact better with each other and with the teacher, improving children’s behaviour and working on their weaknesses, supporting academically delayed children and helping them catch up with their peers.

And as the days passed, progress in the children was noticeable by families and school management, with children developing significantly (in writing, motor skills, and verbal communication).

“Our Youth are Our Future” centre in Tartous governorate.

Education and upbringing are the most important factors in the development of ideal youth. Education plays a vital role in establishing communities, building cultures, and developing relationships between individuals and groups alike, as youth are the buds of society’s tree and youth means the future.

Our Youth are Our Future centre is working towards supporting students in 9^th grade and 12^th grade (senior year), aiming to build a better future for the youth.

Throughout the year, the centre offers support and educative courses for ninth-grade students and students preparing for the general high school senior year exams in key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, Arabic, English, and French.

The Hearing Impairment Training and Rehabilitation Centre (EHIS)

Sign language enables communication between the deaf, mute, and others, conveying mutual feelings and helping them express their different needs. It enhances their cognitive growth and develops their social, cognitive, and cultural relationships, increasing their sense of self-language. Sign language is characterized by its formal aspects, as it includes a number of manual symbols, each representing a letter of the alphabet in addition to other symbols representing articulation or movements.

Recognizing the importance of this language in learning and communication, the Hearing Impairment Training and Rehabilitation Centre offers children lessons based on the Syrian curriculum, taught in sign language and designed for children from 1 to 16 years old. The centre also provides French language lessons starting from the fifth grade, as well as lessons in sports, dance, computer skills, life skills, and French and English languages. Additionally, the centre offers speech rehabilitation and hearing assessment services for children both at the centre and beyond, as well as conducting awareness sessions for the families of the children and the community.

Project Restart

The RESTART program is considered the first productive project by the seeds of hope Group. It is a small-scale project targeting individuals with experience in productive, commercial, or handicraft activities so they can start again after the war, supporting them in improving their economic situation, and encouraging them to stay in Syria.

As a first experience, the project started in the city of Homs, aiming to attract thirty families to achieve greater independence in meeting their basic needs through the more efficient implementation and management of income-generating projects.

What sets this small credit program apart is a factor called reciprocity, to enhance the culture of participation. Beneficiaries will be asked to repay only 50% of the loan amount disbursed to them, with the other half being part of a fund called the Reciprocity Fund.

At the beginning of December 2021, the project team started delivering the necessary materials for their projects after studying them with the beneficiaries and purchasing all the required items. Each project delivered to its owners planted joy and hope in their hearts, motivating them to work.

Dream Centre for the Rehabilitation of People with Disabilities

Years of war in Syria have caused some community services to be forgotten, posing a challenge for individuals following their life path. This challenge becomes even more difficult for families with children with disabilities due to the lack of educational facilities to support these individuals. Based on these community needs, new project ideas are launched to serve the surrounding community.

At the beginning of 2022, the Dream specialized project was launched to support a group of children who have not received sufficient support from the community. Initially, the center’s team received training on topics related to autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, intellectual disability, educational and intervention programs, individual educational plans, and PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System).

On May 1, 2022, the centre opened its doors to register children and provide centre services. The children began their daily routine at the centre in the morning, and they will be monitored for a year to achieve the highest possible development, enhancing their abilities to enable them to perform their daily tasks and integrate into society. During the evening sessions, the centre will provide family awareness sessions and therapeutic sessions for children from outside the centre.

On February 23, 2022, with the blessings and presence of the Archbishop of Homs, Hama, Tartous, and their villages of the Syriac Orthodox, His Eminence Mor Timotheus Matta Al-Khoury, the centre was inaugurated, hoping it will be a blessed work that achieves all desired goals.

Khatwa “Step” Team for Physical Therapy in Homs Governorate

Physical therapy helps in dealing with many health problems, whether for treatment, rehabilitation, or alleviating difficulties due to injury, illness, or disability.

The Step Team targets individuals who have lost their functional independence due to war injuries or illness, aiming to reduce their dependence on others in their daily and necessary activities.