From water every three days to no fuel for ambulances: the realities of living in Syria right now

Campaigner Samara Levy shares a bleak picture of what life is like for those in Syria at the moment and what Christians can do to help. 

With a heavy heart I returned from Syria, just ten days before the earthquake struck. The chronic, spiralling insufficiency and suffering pervading this war-torn country had sunk to its lowest stage yet this winter. After many trips to Syria over the years, this was the first time I had sat in the darkness with no water or electricity in the evening because the solar power batteries and the water had run out. Thirty minutes of electricity every six hours on a good day, and water arriving at the taps only every three or four days - for just an hour or two - was now the life that the majority could expect across the country. 

The fuel crisis in Syria had reached such harrowing lows that December saw the majority of public transport - even ambulances - suspended because there was insufficient fuel to run them, and a ten-day holiday declared to ease the burden on public all services requiring fuel.