A practical helping hand

As the civil war in Syria enters its fourth year, the number refugees in neighbouring countries and internally displaced persons within Syria continues to increase.  With no end to the conflict in sight, the Syria civil war now ranks as the world's worst humanitarian crisis in terms of number of people impacted and displaced. World Vision's response to the crisis has expanded over the past 12 months, with a significant scaling up of operations in Jordan and Lebanon, and also within Syria itself.      

Even from Cyprus there have been opportunities to provide some practical assistance.  Last month World Vision staff, families and other community volunteers gathered to sort and pack a container of clothing and other items that had been donated from schools and community organisations across the island.  The container has since been shipped to Lebanon, and the items distributed to Syrian refugee families.  The generosity of the Cypriot community in donating the goods was overwhelming, which is noteworthy given the ongoing economic challenges being faced here in Cyprus.

The brief clip below shows the volunteers (including some of the Piper kids) hard at work in packing the container.