Emirates Red Crescent gives Syrian orphans vouchers to buy Eid clothes

UAE humanitarian arm says it intends to help 17,000 quake-affected families

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  The Emirates Red Crescent team in the Syrian governorate of Latakia, distribute Eid clothes to 60 children orphaned by the earthquake on February 6. All photos: Wam

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  The UAE humanitarian arm intends to help 17,000 quake-affected families, in co-ordination with the relevant Syrian provinces

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  The Emirates Red Crescent team helps children select clothes for Eid

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  The ERC team visited Umm Al Tuyour in Latakia to provide Zakat Al Fitr to 600 families in the village

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  Team members with local Syrians affected by the earthquake

The Emirates Red Crescent team is giving shopping vouchers to orphans in Syria to buy Eid clothes.

The move will benefit 60 children in Latakia province as part of the UAE's Operation Gallant Knight 2 mission, a humanitarian initiative to support people affected by the February 6 earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey.

The children lost their parents in the natural disaster.

Mohamed Al Kaabi, the head of the ERC team, said the UAE humanitarian arm intends to help 17,000 quake-affected families, in co-ordination with different Syrian provinces, news agency Wam reported.

“The ERC is co-operating with the Syrian clothing company, ‘XO’, in Lattakia, Aleppo, Hama and Homs to provide apparel gift vouchers as per lists, including the names of impacted families, as documented by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in co-ordination with the ERC,” he said.

Shafiq Al Agha, a representative of the Syrian clothing company, said: "We are delighted to participate in this humanitarian initiative of the Emirates Red Crescent to bring a smile to the faces of Syrian children on the occasion of Eid Al Fitr."

Several showrooms in a number of Syrian provinces are part of the initiative, with the goal of bringing joy and happiness to the families affected by the earthquake, he said.

The ERC team also visited Umm Al Tuyour village in Latakia to provide Zakat Al Fitr to 600 families in the village, who thanked the UAE and its humanitarian arm.

“This initiative is part of the ERC's efforts to offer Zakat Al Fitr to quake-affected families,” Mr Al Kaabi said.

On April 2, a ship containing 2,215 tonnes of crucial aid arrived in Syria from the UAE to support relief efforts following the earthquake.

It included 1,040 tonnes of food, 600 tonnes of relief and medical supplies and 573 tonnes of building materials.

The Emirates previously sent 1,000 tonnes of aid to Syria in March.

The UAE launched the Bridges of Goodness public donation campaign in February in response to the humanitarian crisis.

Thousands of volunteers have given up their time to help pack goods bound for Turkey and Syria at events held across the country in recent weeks.