The inhabitants of Idlib province in north-west Syria have been living in war since 2011. They have been victims of Assad's poison gas attacks on several occasions. On 6 February 2023, they were also hit by the devastating earthquake. Since the beginning of October 2023, the Assad regime has been carrying out a new wave of attacks against the province with Russian air support. Many people have practically nothing and live in shacks made of rubbish and rubble in refugee camps. They suffer from diseases, unsurgerised deformities and, above all, hunger and a lack of everything.

More on this shortly under Blog/Media on this website.

2021: Klaus Tschierschky, who has long been active in refugee aid, begins providing moral and financial support to Rima H., a Syrian agricultural economist who is "illegally" stranded in Istanbul with her two children. Matthias van der Minde, initiator of the #RegionAgainstRacism, joins Klaus. This is followed by extensive lobbying and press work to make politicians and the public aware of the fate of northwest Syria and Rimas in particular.

2022: Although Rima herself lives in constant fear of discovery and deportation, she thinks about the even worse fate of those who have nothing to live in the war zone of northwest Syria and who have to expect to become victims of an air or artillery attack every day . She encourages Klaus and Matthias to collect money to make it available to the poorest families - as well as to the Step Amal School, which specializes in orphans and children with deformities and amputations (video).

2023: A registered association is needed to transparently collect donations and channel them to those in need. Klaus and Matthias are supported in the executive team by Jens Nasemann and Ieva Karpovic, both of whom are highly committed to refugee work (see team). The founding meeting of RIMA e.V. will take place on February 3rd, 2023 in Mengeringhausen/Bad Arolsen (Hesse, Waldeck-Frankenberg). Three days later, on February 6th, the terrible earthquake struck the south of Turkey and the north of Syria. Those who were already living in war-damaged buildings or even just makeshift shacks are left with nothing. Thousands die. Our help is more necessary than ever.

Jamel Alhasan, who distributes the donations, explains how RIMA e.V. works (video). For German or English subtitles, please click on the gear on YouTube, then on subtitles, then first on Arabic, then repeat everything again and click on auto-translate, then select the desired language. The subtitles are very small, but the content is very accurate.