Help Syrian Family in Germany Avoid Homelessness This Winter

Please give me a hand in helping Elham and her kids avoid homelessness this winter. They need a short-term boost to put a deposit on a rental.

Hi, I’m Pascale Harter. I'm a journalist and I first came to know Elham after she fled Syria's civil war. She's survived torture, terror and grief. For a year in Turkey, she and the children survived eating rotten fruit dropped on the floor at the market. The eldest, who was 12 then, worked at a tailors to bring money home.

It's been a long journey, but in Germany, Elham and the children have found safety and normality; Maha is a keen volleyball player, Lara likes dancing and Jawad loves football.

But there's a problem: Their landlord wound’t turn the heating on during winter. The children couldn’t get warm and were often sick. Elham was told by the authorities to look for new rental accommodation. It was hard to find anything and she ended up renting an apartment further away from the children’s school than she wanted. When she went to get the financial aid for refugees she was told that she had moved outside her registered area and wasn’t eligible any more. The landlord says he will turn Elham and her children out on the street if she can’t pay by January 31st.

She needs:

€3000 to stay until the end of February.

€3500 to secure a place to rent somewhere in their old neighbourhood to get back in the system there.

€500 to pay for heating this winter.

Over the years, I’ve come to know more of Elham’s story. This is a woman who was forced to marry aged 12. She had her first child at 14. She became destitute when her husband was disappeared by Assad’s forces. She was detained by Syrian police in Homs and tortured. Her children were taken from her twice. She has done everything to get them back and get them to safety. She needs a bit of help to finally get a warm home for them all to grow up in safety together. Thank you for your help.