JINHA

AMED – Workers at Daylight, a Diyarbakir shop supplying aid and solidarity to families displaced by the war in Şengal and Kobanê, have noted a decrease in donations recently. They say that even though Kobanê has been freed, families coming from Rojava need aid just as much as ever.

Daylight provides for the needs of families affected by war or imprisonment, as well as people separated from their spouses, through donations from local people and support from the Bağlar district's municipality.

Over the last six months, says Filiz, who works in the shop, Daylight has shifted from serving Diyarbakır families to focusing on helpingthe manyforced to migrate from Kobanê and Şengal.

Local neighborhood parliaments put around four families every day in touch with Daylight. Although originally Daylight provided them with blankets and appliances, says Filiz, decrease in aid has limited their capacity.

"We go to some houses and see these families are staying on bare concrete. But we can't give them household needs, we can't give them food; we are only able to give them clothing right now," she said.

"At first everybody was doing everything they could and there were a lot of donations," says Filiz. "But now everyone seems a little more comfortable, as if the war was over, as if these people were not still suffering."

Many families, she said, originally went to warmer cities in Turkey like Antalya and Antep to survive the winter, but could not stay because of the pervasive racism they encountered. Others came from Turkish state-run Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) camps where they had faced poor winter conditions.

Filiz called on the public not to let up in their solidarity with the people of Rojava.

(za-ma/fk/mg/cm)