THANK YOU

In June, more than a thousand people across Australia took part in the Ration Challenge. Together they raised more than $700,000 to help people who have been forcibly displaced from their homes.   

With escalating conflict, intensifying climate disasters and more than 110 million people forced to flee their homes in search of safety, the global refugee crisis can feel complex and overwhelming.

But despite all the heartbreak, we have thousands of reasons to remain hopeful.

During Refugee Week, young and old took part in the Ration Challenge, and the Ration Challenge Schools program. These incredible challengers ate the same rations provided to Syrian refugees living in a refugee camp in Jordan, and together, they raised more than $700,000!  

Funds raised through the Ration Challenge, are helping women like Ashia*.

	Above: Ashia and her family live in Talbieh Camp in Jordan, after fleeing their home in Syria where it was no longer safe to live because of the war. Now, with the support of our local partner, and with funds raised through the Ration Challenge, she is growing her own business and working hard to provide for her sons. Photo credit: Arthur Tainturier / Act for Peace

Ashia is a Syrian refugee and woman who lives in Talbieh Camp on the outskirts of Amman, Jordan. She found herself there after fleeing the war in Syria, with her husband and their three children, Zareb*, Ubayy* and Hibah*.

Fleeing her home – amid war and aerial bombings – was terrifying for Ashia. She was separated from people she loves, like her parents and her brothers, who fled to different countries.

And although she eventually found safety at Talbieh Camp, finding the means to earn money and feed her family was stressful. She knew she didn’t have anyone to lean on to borrow money from.

Eventually, she attended production kitchen training, run by our local partner in Jordan and funded by the Act for Peace Ration Challenge.

There, she learned how to make her own delicious pastries, which she could sell for profit. With the training provided by our partner, she has picked up valuable skills in advertising and sales and has been able to start her own small business, which is now growing and allowing Ashia to support her family’s needs.

Ashia told an Act for Peace representative:

“I hope I will expand my kitchen production project to benefit many people, especially the forgotten persons. We feel sometimes that we are forgotten… thanks for being with us in our struggles.” 

This is the kind of impact that people are having through the Ration Challenge.

This year we spoke to Leon, and asked him why he signed up for this year’s challenge: 

"I joined the challenge to spread the message of oneness! Each and every person is part of our global family/community. We need to come together, to make a significant contribution, difference and help our brothers and sisters who have hardship! As we do with our immediate families, we also have to with our global family. I will do this to the best of my ability but together we are a massive force of love and light. I'm overjoyed to see all the souls taking part in the Act for peace Ration Challenge. Let us all join in consciousness to change lives, to change the world❣️??"

During Refugee Week in June, more than a thousand people across Australia took part in the annual Act for Peace Ration Challenge.

It’s people like Leon who make us feel more hopeful for the future. And it’s stories like Ashia’s that remind us that we can make a difference.

THANK YOU.

We are so grateful to each and every person who took part in the challenge this year, and the thousands of others who supported them. 

Even though the Ration Challenge is over for this year, its not to late to give. You can support this year’s challenge by making a gift today: via the Act for Peace website here.

*names changed to protect their identities