DOHA: An initiative launched by the Sheikh Thani bin Abdullah Foundation for Humanitarian Services, popularly known as RAF, to support Syrian refugee families in Syria’s neighbouring countries, has evoked massive response from Qatari people who have donated generously with total collection this year alone being QR21.5m.
“The initiative is entitled “Taadud”, an Arabic word which means to patronise. And it was launched by RAF two years ago to help Syrian families who fled to Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey in large numbers due to the violence in their home country.
This was disclosed by Ahmad Rashid Al Suwaidi, Deputy CEO for International Projects at RAF.
He told Qatar News Agency (QNA) that the initiative is to sponsor one or more Syrian families who are not staying in refugee camps in the above-said countries. They are staying independently.
The sponsor of a family or several of the displaced families is supposed to pay for the expenditure of the beneficiary families for six months to a year, including medical bill, if any, school fees of children or to cover other needs of the family or families, if required.
Al Suwaidi said that so far some 2,377 families had benefited from the initiative.
Some 55 percent of total money collected through donations were spent on paying the rent of the houses that are accommodating the beneficiary families.
The deputy CEO said that the remaining 45 percent of the cash collected through donations were used to pay medical bills, day-to-day expenditures and school fees of children in these beneficary families. The incentive is being executed by the representatives of RAF and in collaboration with international and local humanitarian organisations operating in the three countries, namely, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey.
If a beneficiary family has some urgent need, RAF is able to provide succour in a timely fashion, he said. The initiative is getting remarkable response from Qatari families as they have donated QR21.5m in a matter of just a year. Most donor families are paying for all the necessities of the refugee families including medical bills, house rents, school fees of children and food expenses.
The Peninsula
