Syria
Three mobile dental practices for the Aleppo region (since 2016, 2019 and 2023)
In 2015/16, the Green Helmets converted a donated mobile home into a mobile dental practice to provide better medical care in the embattled areas. Equipped with a new dentist’s chair and a photovoltaic system, the mobile dental practice has been in use in the greater Azaz area and in various refugee camps along the Syrian-Turkish border since fall 2016. The mobile dental practice can treat around 250 patients per month. The project is run by the Green Helmets together with the Syrian organization Independent Doctors Association (IDA).
With the help of the Cologne-based association “Niehler Freiheit”, we were able to convert a very robust refrigerated vehicle into another mobile dental practice a few years later. This has been in use since summer 2019. In the fall of 2023, thanks to a generous donation, we were able to put a third mobile dental practice on the road! This time, it was purchased directly in the region and converted into a dental practice there. This allowed us to save time and money on transportation.
The Green Helmets cover the running costs for all three dental mobiles, i.e. the salaries for three dentists and assistants, costs for medical consumables and medicines and maintenance costs for the vehicles. Since 2016, more than 24,000 dental treatments have already been carried out – free of charge for the patients.
Emergency aid in the earthquake zone in north-west Syria (since 2023)
On February 6, 2023, severe earthquakes hit the southeast of Turkey and the northwest of Syria. According to the government, at least 50,000 people lost their lives in Turkey and around 300,000 buildings were severely damaged. The death toll in the Syrian areas is much less precise, with estimates of at least 7,000 dead. However, aid is much more complicated here due to the civil war, with Assad making humanitarian support more difficult. In addition, the earthquake survivors have been suffering for years anyway, having lost relatives and their homes in the war.
Together with partner organizations, we organized the distribution of hundreds of food parcels to survivors just a few days after the earthquake. A few months later, our first reconstruction project began. With the help of a local team and in cooperation with the organization “SY Aid”, we have built 22 small housing units for earthquake victims so far (Status end of 2024).
We also set up solar panels for the buildings. In addition, we have equipped a well pump with a solar system – so that the drinking water supply for the residents is guaranteed. But that was just the beginning. We would like to build more accommodation.
Support for the Amal School in the Atmeh refugee camp (2015-16)
The Amal School aims to give children in the Atmeh refugee camp the opportunity to learn reading, writing and arithmetic despite the ongoing civil war. Together with the partner organization Barada Syrienhilfe e.V., the Green Helmets are committed to the operation of the refugee school in Syria. More than 30,000 people currently live in the Atmeh refugee camp in the province of Haram in north-western Syria, around half of whom are children.
Aid deliveries for Aleppo and Hama (2014)
Together with the aid organization Barada Syrienhilfe e.V., the Green Helmets have carried out several aid deliveries for the Syrian population in Aleppo and Hama. In addition to the delivery of basic foodstuffs, the focus was also on supplying vulnerable infants with urgently needed baby food and baby milk.
Reconstruction in the civil war (2012–2013)
Immediately after the outbreak of fighting in the summer of 2012, the Green Helmets brought a first team to support reconstruction in western Syria. Until a dramatic but ultimately happy kidnapping, the Green Helmets and several employees were able to rebuild a hospital, a preschool and several elementary school destroyed by the war in just nine months.
Reports from Syria:
‘It’s also about humanity’ – A Syrian dentist talks about her work in a mobile dental clinic run by the Green Helmets
Tooth decay, tooth extractions and root fillings: the three mobile dental practices run by the Green Helmets have carried out more than 100,000 treatments since 2016. But this work involves much more than that! Dentist Wafaa explains in an interview.
Syrian school shines in new splendor
After three months of construction, the war damage to the middle school in Buwaydah has been repaired. More than 300 children can now go back to school here. We are already working on the next renovation project.
First Green Helmets Projects Started in Liberated Syria
After the return of many refugees to Syria, we are supporting the reconstruction of a village near Homs, the home of our Syrian friends from Lebanon. For this work, we urgently need donations. At the same time, our work in Lebanon is largely completed.
Going home
Thirteen years after fleeing Assad's bombs, our Syrian friends who had found refuge in Lebanon were now able to return home. We visited them there - and prepared the first reconstruction projects.
There is life after Assad!
Back in 2013, our founder Rupert Neudeck was already optimistic that the oppression of the Syrian people by the Assad regime would not last forever. At the time, no one expected that the liberation of Syria would take more than ten years.