Oum Fawaz is like the grandmother we all dream of having. She greets you warmly and offers you vine leaves (refreshments) whose delicious aroma fills the whole building.

Oum Kadour, her husband and 9 children had a farm in Al-Madiq, a village not far from Hama.

Basme (backpack) with one of her sisters and a cousin.

Her father is a mechanic, her mother a housewife.

Mahmoud Al-Kamel lived with his wife and four daughters in the town of Ma'arat Al-Numan in the Idleb region. His job as a labourer enabled him to provide for his family.

The small village of Qaryatein is situated between Damascus and Palmyra, not far from the monastery of Mar Moussa. Until recently it had been spared from the conflict between the regular army and the rebels.

Mouhanad Ados was living near Damascus with his mother, two sisters and two brothers in Alhajar Alaswad, one of the first areas where the conflict began.

Loubna is living in a six square metre hovel on the outskirts of Beirut. She, her husband and three of their children escaped from their village following the kidnapping of one of their sons. He was tortured in front of them and, several days later, succumbed to his injuries in hospital.

Muhamed is from Sfireh, a small city near Aleppo, which was one of the first areas to be bombed by the regime at the beginning of the revolution. Before the crisis, he worked at a governmental institution as a simple worker with a low salary. From 1st December 2012, the Government ceased paying his salary.

Hossam and Mona have three children. Their daughter, Nour, was born with a heart defect. At the age of two she was operated on and must now take medication for the rest of her life.

This month Coup de Pouce is proposing to work with a local association to bring aid to Syrian families as it is becoming more and more dangerous for our friends in situ to act as contacts due to the risk of being accused of collaboration with the outside.

Situated in the d’Iblib region, the Ma’arat Al-Numan Aid Committee would like to open a school in the area. In fact, as a result of the conflict, the majority of the schools in the town have been damaged and are now closed. The Committee has found an old building which, once renovated, will enable the education of up to 70 children.

Suleiman loves his country. He was born and has always lived in the Palmyra oasis, an ancient city dating from 100 AD which still exists today in the middle of the desert.