The young man with the infectious smile would never tell you, and you’d never know, that he was imprisoned, tortured and beaten almost to death by the Syrian regime for demonstrating against the government at the start of the current crisis. Remarkably, by the time his family arrived, believing they had come to collect his body, Mohamad was breathing again. His parents had to fake a death certificate to release his body before he could travel to Turkey to rebuild his life.
The fact that Mohamad no longer exists on paper is of no consequence. He is joyfully alive, and for three days last month, smoking Gauloises and grinning, he drove me round southern Turkey to see some of the projects that the Hands Up Foundation has supported over the last three years. This includes funding doctors’ salaries in Aleppo and a prosthetic limb project in Syria and Turkey.
One morning in August 2013, I was in Azaz as a guest of the Free Syrian Army. My job as a freelance illustrator was to capture some of what was happening through my drawings (the pictures were published in the Guardian). Fras, a “rebel” who I haven’t heard from since, looked amusingly disgusted at my dishevelled look as I wondered outside. Despite not sharing a common language, he ushered me on to the back of his motorbike, down the road and into an already busy barber’s, where much to the interest of the others I was shaved to within an inch of my life. At no point was there any question that I should pay, at no point did this friendly exchange with someone I barely knew not feel like a normal day. And yet within days of my encounter with Fras and his barber, the city would be under heavy bombardment. Azaz has been subject to heavy shelling for the last year, and 90% of its population have had to leave.
Three friends and I, who had all lived and worked in Syria, set up the charity, united by a sense of sadness at the unfolding crisis in the country. We knew that even small donations, in the right hands, could still help, and we wanted to remind the people we had met that they had not been forgotten.
The problems faced by aid agencies and donors are enormous. Who are the good guys and where does my money go? These are pertinent questions, properly asked but rarely answered accurately. Syria is one of the most difficult places in the world to deliver aid to, and the closer you get to the need, the higher the risk.
But in southern Turkey alone there are hundreds of Syrian-run, Turkish-registered aid organisations supported by many western governments and international charities operating across this border. They often speak English, they have audited accounts, regular reporting and transparent processes. Political uncertainty or the presence of armed groups is no longer an excuse not to give.
One of the ways the Hands Up Foundation is raising money is through singing. And on 13 December, 750 people will descend on St Margaret’s Church in Westminster for a carol service, led by a choir of MPs including Victoria Prentis, Will Quince, Nicola Blackwood and Anne-Marie Trevelyan, and with readings from Simon Callow, Michael Morpurgo and Robert Peston. In addition, actors Alexander Armstrong and Tom Hollander will be singing and whistling Walking in the Air. Last year, a similar event raised £45,000. Our target this year is to double that.
The Westminster event is just the flagship. We have launched a nationwide Singing for Syrians campaign, and this month hope to instigate 100 singing events nationwide. Many are already planned and will be held all over the UK, and there is even going to be one in Istanbul’s St Antoine Cathedral. Everyone can sing. We hope more will hear about the events and take the initiative.
•Find an event near you, or learn how to hold your own, at singingforsyrians.com.
