It is a fate in the midst of a country ravaged by war and terror: eleven-year-old Syrian schoolboy Jamal D. has already experienced many traumatic events at his tender age, including multiple internal displacements and serious illnesses affecting his parents:

“The family fell into extreme poverty at times. Yet everything had started so hopefully for the Christian couple: the wife was still studying law when they married. Due to the war, she had to interrupt her studies. Despite these adversities, the family persevered.”

This is reported by Dr Nabil Antaki, co-founder of the Blue Marists from Aleppo, Syria, in an email to the German section of the ISHR.

With her last ounce of strength, the mother, who was suffering from cancer, helped her children with their studies, as they had to relearn the school material after each displacement. Finally, the Blue Marists helped Jamal D. and his siblings with special tutoring as part of their education project, and they achieved excellent academic results.

“Today, they are proof of the transformative power of educational support, which empowers people to succeed even in the face of the greatest challenges,” Dr Antaki continues.

The Blue Marists are a humanitarian group in Aleppo, Syria, consisting of Catholic religious brothers and lay people associated with them. Shortly after the outbreak of the civil war in Syria in 2011, cooperation with the German section of the ISHR came about through mutual friends. The initiative runs emergency aid, education and development projects, such as providing needy families with milk powder for their infants, or assisting elderly and sick people with medication and one warm meal a day.

The Blue Marists promote the education of children from families who ask for help to survive because of their bitter poverty. © Blue Marists

The security situation is particularly worrying for members of religious minorities: in March 2025, three months after jihadist rebels led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (Committee for the Liberation of the Levant) took power, the first massacres took place on the Syrian coast, claiming the lives of hundreds of Alawites. On 22 June 2025, an Islamist group targeted Christians: at least 22 people were killed in a terrorist attack on the Mar Elias Church in Damascus. ‘Christians are now living in great fear and wondering whether this attack will be followed by others in other cities across the country,’ Antaki wrote to the German section of the ISHR shortly after the bloody deed. On 15 July, members of the Syrian armed forces shot and killed Druze civilians in the provincial capital of as-Suwaida – allegedly to intervene in clashes with Bedouins.

Initial fears thus became a cruel reality. The German section of the ISHR wants to show members of religious minorities in Syria, especially the large number of Christians, that they have not been forgotten. The Blue Marists know more than 100 schoolchildren like Jamal who can be helped to continue their education for just 100 euros a year. Any support is most welcome.