Haifa's Courage A Tale of Survival

Date: 2025-06-19

Moments of warmth that Haifa experiences near her eldest son, Mohammad.
July 2024, Afrin, Syria ©Obaida Altarraf Welthungerhilfe

In a tattered tent lacking the basic necessities of life, Mrs. Haifa's tear-filled eyes reveal of her pain before her words do: " After my husband passed away in 2017, I suddenly found myself solely responsible for four children, with no support.."
Haifa Balas, 35 years old, from the town of Khayara in the eastern countryside of Maarrat al-Nu'man, lives with her children in a camp near the city of Afrin, north of Aleppo. Their worn-out tent bears witness to every tear shed at night, after long hours of worry and anxiety: "Where and what will we eat the next day?"
Haifa has four children: the eldest is a 14-year-old girl, followed by a 12-year-old girl, then a 10-year-old boy, and the youngest is a 9-year-old boy with special needs, suffering from deafness and muteness.
Haifa faced daily struggles to secure basic necessities. She says, "I was ready to do any job to feed my children, so I worked in agricultural workshops, olive picking, and vegetable farms, but all these were temporary jobs that barely met our needs for a short period. I desperately needed a permanent, continuous job."
Haifa adds, " My heart broke when my eldest son and his brother asked if they could leave school to help support our family, collecting discarded nylon and iron from the streets and selling them for a meager price. I cried a lot before life forced me to agree to their request."
Amid this situation, a ray of hope began to shine. The WHH organization and its team reached Haifa about two years ago and supported her small business grant to start-up her business. Her project, a store near her tent, was approved, Haifa started hesitantly, initially purchasing only basic supplies to gauge the camp residents' needs and assess their interest. In the early days, she tested their requirements and planned to meet them in subsequent phases. As time went on, Haifa's confidence in her project grew. She began to cater to their needs by providing not only essential items but also some additional non-essential goods. However, Haifa says, "Although, I have received trainings on entrepreneurship when I started this business, after a while the mini market nearly ran out of goods, and I could not buy new supplies enough, due to the increased expenses".
In February 2024, WHH reached Haifa again for the current scale-up small business grant activity which assisted Haifa to recover her business and expand it. She received the first half of the grant in June 2024 as 750$. Now she is attending the business scale-up trainings and implements the learnings in her business. She hopes to fulfill her tasks under coaching of WHH staff and receive the second half of the grant.

Before receiving the grant Haifa received Business Expansion Plan training where she learned how to prepare a business expansion plan. After submitting her plan, she was selected to receive the grant, where she also started to receive business scale-up trainings from WHH for coaching and mentoring, which significantly improved her ability to manage her store effectively. Haifa says, "As soon as I received the money, I stocked my store with goods, bought a battery, and solar panels to keep the refrigerators running as long as possible." She adds, "Through the business scale-up training, I learned how to organize a daily ledger, track the store's income and expenses, determine profit above capital, and organize everything to help maintain the capital. I also created a WhatsApp group named after my store for the camp residents, and with guidance from the organization's team, I implemented a free delivery service within the camp."
Haifa could hardly believe the significant difference in her profits after all these changes. Her daily sales used to be no more than 300 Turkish Liras, equivalent to 9 US dollars, but now her sales are around 1000 Turkish Liras, approximately 30 US dollars.

Haifa participates in an entrepreneurship training where she explains the importance of an efficient market.
July 2024, Afrin, Syria ©Obaida Altarraf WelthungerhilfeJuly 2024, Afrin, Syria ©Obaida Altarraf Welthungerhilfe

Most importantly, Haifa was incredibly happy to have her children return to school to continue their education. She said, "They are my hope in this life. I am preparing them to face the coming days as they grow older." She joyfully added, "I am truly happy; I can't believe that I sleep now without fear or worry about tomorrow."
Haifa wasn't happy alone; nearly 100 families in the camp benefited as well. Her store saved them a lot of effort in buying their necessities, as they no longer needed to leave the camp, given that Haifa's store is the only one there.
Haifa's story is one of resilience, of a woman who struggled for a decade, with the camp streets and her tent corners bearing witness. The final testimony to her story came from the WHH organization, as a beacon of hope after a long period of suffering.
In concluding her story, Haifa shared a message with other widowed women: “Hold on to life and stay strong, for opportunities will come, just as they did for me through the WHH organization.” Haifa's journey reminds us that in a world where a single helping hand can transform a family's future, even one act of kindness can have a lasting impact.