Words of love and open‑heartedness in a time of great need. Syrian patriots are coming to the forefront, working so their children may once again know a normal life.
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“Maybe I can’t give money, but I can give my effort. I feel responsible for all the children of this town,” one individual told Positive News.
Mustafa al‑Daher joined the initiative by offering his metalworking expertise, helping to rebuild schools that had long been left in ruins. After returning to Talbisseh from Idlib, he began fabricating bathroom fixtures, installing security grilles on windows and repairing smashed or looted school doors. Since returning to the city after the fall of Bashar Al Asssad’s regime in 2024, he has restored eight schools so far, often bringing his own generator and workers, even when it affects his private business.
“When they call me to fix a school, I go directly,” he says. “I’ve never let them down.”
A classroom in Zat Al Sawari elementary school post-refurbishment. Image: Nidal Al Okaidi
For Abdul Monim Al-Moayni, 53, who owns a workshop, the motivation runs deeper. Years before the uprising, he had offered to volunteer to help build a health clinic, but the offer was rejected in favour of people with stronger connections. The disappointment stayed with him.
“I always felt I was falling short,” he says. “I wanted to serve my country, to give something, even if it was small.”
When colleagues told him about the school campaign, he contacted Al-Okaidi immediately. He organised his schedule to protect his business while making himself available whenever schools needed repairs. Even his workers, facing their own financial pressures, donated days of labour.
His granddaughters now study in Talbisseh’s schools. They had previously lived in Turkey, where schools had gardens, toys, heating and adequate resources. The contrast shocked them, and strengthened his resolve.
I’m ready to help now and always,” he says. “Maybe I can’t give money, but I can give my effort.”
Launched at the start of the school year, the campaign has already supported 13 schools and raised more than £75,000. Syria’s education ministry, responding to the initiative’s momentum, has sent 380 desks. Classrooms are regaining blackboards. Bathrooms are becoming functional. Windows are being installed. Children are sitting on proper chairs rather than bare metal frames.
The work continues. The gap remains vast. Thousands of schools across Syria still need restoration. But in Talbisseh, residents are proving that transformation does not always require waiting for top-down solutions.
It requires showing up. It requires believing that one school, one classroom, one child matters enough to give time, skill and effort. In a city shaped by devastation, that commitment has become a form of reconstruction in its own right.
God bless the kind souls, who rebuild not only walls but the human heart.
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