LEVERKUSEN, Germany - Kurdish organizations in Germany collect donations and aid for northeastern Syria (Rojava), where local volunteers help distribute it to families in need. Efforts underway to make sure every bit of the aid reaches families and not lost.
One of the active groups is the Kurdish Community of Leverkusen, which has been engaged in the activity since 2017.
"This organization has formed a committee, an aid committee, that every three months we send back aids to our people," Jasim Ismael, in charge of the association, told Rudaw on Saturday. "Every three months, every member here pays a donation and these donations are sent to ten people working with us in Rojava that distribute them to families from Afrin to Derek within their towns."
This spirit of giving is not restricted to one city in Germany, rather it has spread all over Germany.
In Bochum, Ronahi organization is also active in the same way. For them every can that they send and every sum of money is not just aid, rather a statement of support.
"Big disasters took place in western Kurdistan (Rojava) that started in Sare Kani (Ras al-Ain). Back then we started from Sare Kani when I was a member of the committee. Myself and a friend of mine promised to send aid and money to Rojava," said Khunau Hajo, head of the organization.
Turkey and Turkish-backed Syrian militia groups seized the Kurdish towns of Sari Kani and nearby Gire Spi (Tal Abyad) in a military offensive - dubbed Operation Peace Spring - against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in 2019.
The offensive sent hundreds of thousands of the area’s residents fleeing into Kurdish-held areas in the northwest as well as the Kurdistan Region.
