Even though the evacuation of the city has ceased to progress again, more and more refugees arrive in the rural areas in the north of the country where arche noVa is implementing its project.
“Between 5,000 and 7,000 people arrived just within a day”, our colleagues report. They assume that all in all 50,000 to 75,000 will seek shelter there.
Right now the situation in the countryside is relatively stable, according to our local team. Intermittent air strikes are still a cause of much concern. No one can really say what will happen next. There are no taboos at the battles. Many schools are under the constant threat of being targeted as well. Five out of eight villages where schools supported by arche noVa are located have been hit over the past two months. The target was always far from the actual school location so the lessons could be continued.
The worsening of the situation is clearly noticeable: on the days where there is an escalation of airstrikes in the region considerable less children attend school. Overall there are less children who go to school as well.
Two schools switched to the Education in Emergency approach. That means lessons now take place out of homes and community centers located on the outskirts of the villages far from areas with large population. Because of this the attendance rate increased again but the situation is still tense and volatile.
In 2016 arche noVa was able to implement most of the project activities as planned and increase them when necessary. Currently 3,400 food parcels and 470 hygiene kits are distributed on a monthly basis. Additionally, 36,500 people are provided with fresh bread and 5,000 people receive drinking water by water trucking daily. Furthermore arche noVa takes care of waste management, water rehabilitation and sewerage reconstruction in multiple towns. Our education project includes nine schools and enables 8,100 children to go to school regularly.
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