In Syria today, over one in four households is headed by a woman, many of them left to raise children alone amid displacement, poverty, and a collapsing economy. These mothers, often without stable work or support, struggle daily to secure even the bare minimum for their families.

Iman* is just one of the thousands of struggling single mothers.

Once living in the peaceful countryside of Northern Syria, Iman never imagined she would have to flee her village in fear. But conflict spares no one. “We left everything behind. We ran with nothing, just the clothes on our backs”, she expresses.

Displacement pushed her family into a life of daily struggle. Her father and brothers took on any day labour they could find. Iman, trying to find stability of her own, married and had two children, a boy and a girl. But when the marriage ended after just two years, Iman was left to care for them alone.

With no financial support, she took a job in a potato-peeling factory. The pay was painfully low, but it was the only way to cover the cost of diapers, milk, and clothes. “I always put my children first, never myself. We lived in extreme poverty and felt too ashamed to ask people for support”, recalls Iman.

Adding salt to the wound, the roof over their heads was fragile, an unfinished rented house she could barely afford. Then came the eviction when the landlord said he needed to sell the home. Suddenly Iman and her children had nowhere to go. She had no option but to return to her father’s crowded house, carrying more than just her belongings; exhaustion, fear and uncertainty. What was more daunting was the fact that they had no financial means to purchase basic necessities for her and her children. 

WVSR’s partner, made sure to assess the needs of pregnant and breastfeeding women facing in the area who are struggling to meet their basic needs. They passed Iman’s house as they listened carefully to Iman’s story and struggle. Soon after she filled a survey with all her information, she was enrolled in the project and received dignity and baby kits, packages filled with essential hygiene items that helped her regain something she hadn’t felt in a long time, agency over her own wellbeing and her daughter’s.

For a mother who had spent years giving everything and asking for nothing, this gesture meant the world. It was a small light in a long tunnel, a sign that she was not forgotten, and that her dignity mattered.

Through the project, over 3,500 women, girls and babies benefited from the emergency kits provided, a powerful step toward restoring dignity, health, and hope in the midst of crisis.

*Name has been changed to project identity