“I felt frustrated and helpless when I saw my house, especially in winter, as water was leaking from the roof like it was raining.” With these words, Abu Yousef, 45 years old, describes the moment when he saw his destroyed house after he returned to his village in of Quneitra in 2018.
Abu Yousef left his home in Mashara with his wife and five children in 2014, as a result of crisis conditions, and returned to it in 2018, but it is a “disappointing” return as he describes it, after he found his house and his blacksmithing workshop destroyed which was his only source of livelihood.
Abu Youssef lost not only his home and workshop, but also his leg in a mine explosion, which increased his sense of helplessness, as he says, but the reality changed in 2021, when #SyrianArabRedCrescent began the process of evaluating and rehabilitation the homes of returnees in his town, where SARC’s volunteers restored his house, and he joined the Maintenance workshops for 93 other homes also, which helped him improve his financial situation and restore his career.
“I can close my home door and sleep safely with my children, and I will not be afraid of winter coming anymore,” says Abu Yousef, after completing rehibiltation work of his house, which covered plumbing, electricity, painting and fully equipping the kitchen.
Abu Yousef is one of 600 people who can sleep in their homes safely today, after Syrian Arab Red Crescent restored 94 homes in Mashara town between October 2021 and mid-August 2022, with the support of the International Committee of Red Cross.
