These past few weeks have been extremes of joy and despair.

The joy — the little baby girl we welcomed last month — is next to me, held close to my heart and sheltered from all the chaos in the world.

The despair — the nightmare unfolding in Syria — is one where mothers do not have that same luxury.

We have a short window to get support to our partners in Syria and need your help to do so. A mother’s right to care for and bond with her newborn is a value I both support through CanDo’s work and believe in living for myself, which is why I committed to fully disengage with my consuming passion for CanDo during my parental leave to focus on my new baby.

But I can’t ignore what is happening and I know you cannot either. I’m taking a moment to let the outside world break into this precious time to write to you. I wouldn’t do so if it was not absolutely vital.

We always knew this tragedy would descend on Idlib. Now it is here. Attention on the crisis is at an all-time low, but the need is at an all-time high. A million more people have been displaced. Schools and health care facilities have been bombed. The UN has warned of the "biggest humanitarian horror story of the 21st Century."

With your help, we’ve spent years building the ability to respond to this and finding the most capable and courageous local partners to do so. A ceasefire has been announced and it gives an opportunity to flood supplies to our partners. We know from past experience that this window may only be open a matter of days and we must move quickly.
 

We can get your contribution to the people who will do the most good and save the most lives in a matter of days

To set up mobile clinics, deliver food and shelter and to get critical medical supplies and support to the hospital in Idlib. Swift action will provide immediate relief and help build a buffer against more violence we know is coming — in short: your support now will save lives.

This is what we’ve been building together and this is the moment to act.

Nearly 300 babies have been born this year in the hospital you helped build.

There is hope in this moment of darkness, hope you provide. Though I’m at home with my new baby right now, I don’t feel helpless because I know I’m not alone in caring about this crisis.

Thank you for standing with me. Thank you for standing with the people of Syria.

Rola.

Support Idlib