Razan Khaebbiya, aSyrian engineer, has devoted herself to help the children of the Eastern Ghouta suburbs near the capital, especially those with special needs who got injured in the war.
A year ago, Khaebbiya set up a project called the Human Hope Team to ease the children pain, but the project stopped working because of war conditions, internal fighting and checkpoints.
The young woman from a family that had made so many sacrifices to the revolution struggled to complete her university studies and was able to enter the Faculty of Engineering at Damascus University, but her inclination to help child war victims overshadowed everything else, especially when she saw dozens of them dropout of schools or were unable to receive treatment due to financial reasons.
At the beginning of the war, Razan's father was arrested Zaman al-Wasl along with several members of her family members because of the random arrests in the city of Douma. This led her to emigrate to Ghouta to begin her life with determination and to help the rest of her family outside the prison.
At first, she worked in teaching and later went on to work in the humanitarian field and monitor the most vulnerable and poor cases in the community, helping them with personal motivation and individual resources. During her stay in Ghouta, Razan conducted surveys for several women at home. One of these surveys was commissioned by the World Food Organization (FAO).
Khaebbiya said, “after going to several poor houses, I saw with my own eyes the extent of the suffering experienced by people, especially in light of the economic embargo that the city experienced in 2014."
As her experience grew, the young woman dreamed of offering something useful especially to families with special status. She had the idea of helping children with special needs especially those with amputation.
The idea of the project was presented to the Damascus Rural Governorate Council in Ghouta. The council approved the project shortly after.
The young woman explained that the project lasted only six months. She was able to help many children and install limbs with the help of the Farah Artificial Limb Center in Ghouta. The war, the internal fighting and the checkpoints in Eastern Ghouta and the cessation of material support, especially in the central sector, prevented the completion of the project. Razan was forced to work individually again.
Khaebbiya started again with the help of the children of Douma and gave them a little hope of installing artificial limbs.
She pointed out that the suspension of the project Human Hope Project reflected negatively on many of the injured children of Eastern Ghouta injured especially children of the towns of the central sector.
Khaebbiya tried to follow up the cases of children, especially amputees, and to assist them in treatment and education through her contact with many medical and educational institutions. Khabia said that she is now considering implementing a project to help people with spinal cord injuries in cooperation with the studies and projects office in Douma Local Council.
Razan pointed out that she has many difficulties and challenges in her work as a relief and humanitarian activist and that she lives in an area that is under continuous bombing by regime forces, adding that the people confidence in her as an activist has increased her workload and humanitarian responsibilities and increased the number of cases in need of assistance.
The activist Razan said that she used to work alone without being affiliated with any relief organization and did not portray or promote any institution to preserve the dignity of the in-need cases, adding that her love for humanitarian work despite difficulties is her compass.
She was able to win hearts and love of the people and encourage them to carry on this noble task which she devoted herself to despite obstacles and difficulties.
Razan aims to establish a center for injured children to provide treatment and education for them and their integration into society.
And supporting them without this support being limited to the material aspect, the needs of the child does not depend on the material side as much as children need to be cared for and push them to be creative.
The young activist hopes that the end of internal conflicts will stop before the external ones in order to be able to access all forgotten cases that she could not reach before and to help those cases to the fullest.
