With the aim of introducing children to the importance of personal hygiene and the need to take care of the cleanliness and health of their teeth and protect them from decay, The Syrian Society for Social Development, in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, implemented an activity entitled "My Clean Teeth" within the child-friendly space in the Rozana community space.

The activity began with a visit to the dentist, who provided interesting information about dental health, the importance of hygiene and how to take care of the teeth. He also explained the difference between healthy and bad foods. Then, the children made a tooth brushes out of cardboard.

The children expressed their thoughts during the activity, out of those thoughts were the following:

“In order for all of my teeth to become happy and joyful, I must take care of them and their hygiene.”

"We should not be eating that much chocolate and drinking that much Pepsi. This can cause us to get cavities in our teeth. Today we have learned the right way to brush our teeth and get rid of all the ugly dark lines we have there”

Given the importance of spreading the idea of humanitarian and community work, and the need to familiarize adolescents with its concept, objectives, types, and positive results, and to involve them in setting milestones in their society.

The Child Friendly Space implemented an activity entitled (My fingerprint within my community) in the Al Wadhihi community space in cooperation with the Syrian Society for Social Development and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The activity started with a brainstorm about adolescents’ information that they have about humanitarian work, followed by a video clip about community work, and a discussion of a set of questions about the mechanism of identifying problems in societies, ways to solve them, and types of community initiatives, then showing images that describe the concept of initiatives.

The activity concluded with two initiatives, where the young people made flowers from handicrafts and distributed them to the workers in the community space in appreciation of their efforts. Then, they went on to clean the neighborhood and the garbage baskets on the street and put clean new bags inside them.

The children interacted during the activity and shared their opinions with us, saying:

"Being a part of society means that we are active people, not mere watchers."

"We learned today that we can leave an imprint in our society even with just a nice word and a caring initiative."

"When we become united within the society we can actually fix any problem we are facing. All problems and worries pale in the face of our unity."

A large mysterious and beautiful universe, tales and legends about the stars transmitted by our Arab astronomers ancestors aroused our longing to learn about the depths of this universe. That’s why the Syrian Society for Social Development launched a joint activity with the Syrian Astronomical Society, entitled (An Astronomical Evening with the Stars of the Sky).

The night was characterized by order, successful arrangement and meaningful scientific discussions, where an explanation of the map of the sky and the most important constellations was presented: the Great Dipper - the Little Bear - the Chair - Cephas - the Hen - the Eagle - the harp - the summer triangle - Andromeda - Scorpio.

The absence of the sky moon had a role in allowing young people to get an excellent observation of Jupiter and Saturn, the star Antares, and the stars Suha A and B. These stars were monitored through telescopes and detailed information was provided about them and the summer stars in the sky of Aleppo. Beautiful legends that talk about the stars and their interesting tale were also presented during the activity.

The activity was carried out in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and was attended by 20 young people from the Shams Community Center, in addition to a number of members of the Astronomical Society.

In conclusion, the adolescents expressed their following thoughts:

"I have always had an interest in astronomy, however this session today is the first time I got to actually learn about it. It has encouraged me to continue exploring in this field."

"Today's activity is new and special, and it is full of useful and new information. I am very happy that I was able to see the planets and stars with my own eyes for the first time in my life."

"I used to always stare at the sky, but this is the first time I know that there are all these stars and planets. It’s also interesting to learn how we can estimate the distances between us and the planets"

Hear-My-Heart team conducted the recreational series, Excellence is my Aim, to train women on sewing, wool knitting, and handicrafts drawing on the fact that women represent half of the society, play a major role in its development and in productivity, and contribute to improving the economic conditions.

The training series lasted for 3 months, during which the women exchanged experience and learned new ways to apply these skills. Upon completing the training, the team organized an exhibition to showcase the items made by the women.

The Syrian Society for Social Development cooperated with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on conducting the recreational training series in Mosaic Community Center.

Impact:

One woman enthusiastically commented, “My self-confidence grew. I believe in my capabilities and I am motivated to carry on with life by working and financially supporting my family.”

Another woman revealed “I was so surprised seeing these pieces of art. I hope I will be part of the next exhibition, as I have the required skills.”