Understanding the Syrian refugee crisis: Why and How

When I wrote my last blog post about the Jen Lovallo's individual work with the Refugee Crisis in Syria, it sparked a strong interest in this subject and I soon learned that more people are using social media to share this issue, it inspired me to learn more.

According to BCC News, the Syrian issue started March 2011 with the brutal civil war that erupted in the Middle East. During the violence many of the Syrian people have been caught in the battle and through the violence have "been forces to leave their homes to escape to safety in other countries," states BCC News.

The refugee crisis has become more prominent in the news this year and has been a large thing in social media as well. I follow Patrick Witty on Twitter and Vine and he is making big strides in educating people about this cause, keeping us informed, and reporting what is truly going on.

Now this is not  philanthropic endeavor that I am covering but the issue is worth learning about and so many people are using social media to raise awareness on this issue and for charities helping them. According to the Charity Navigator , the Syrian crisis has entered its fifth year and 19 plus charities have been helping aid the crisis. I feel when people use social media to promote awareness and to gain donations for world issues like this, it shows the true potential of the good that social media can do for the world. There is so much about this crisis that we need to know about and talk about. Read the links, discuss and comment below, without talking about it and learning about it, how can we help change it.

Snapshot of the Crisis

12.2 million	People in Need of Humanitarian Assistance in Syria
5.6 million	Children Affected by the Crisis in Syria
7.6 million	Internally Displaced Persons in Syria
4 million	Syrians Displaced to Neighboring Countries

Things They Left Behind - Highlight on Jen Lovallo and Her Work in Budapest

This is a screenshot from my mobile device of a philanthropic endeavor that I would like to highlight. Jen Lovallo (my brother-in-law's sister) recently did some dangerous volunteer work these past few weeks. She went to Budapest and was helping Syrian refugees, who were walking to Vienna, by providing them food, water, medical aid, and a chance to rest. The volunteers raised about 4,060 dollars in donations through a website thingstheyleftbehind.com and by utilizing all that Twitter has to offer. Since this blog is about discussing how philanthropies use social media to spread awareness of their cause, I felt this accomplishment was most fitting, Jen posted things she saw, what she was doing, where she was each day and my brother-in-law did the same thing, while also re-tweeting Jen, so that their combined followers learned about this issue and sent donations. According to James Lovallo, they would not have made nearly as much money in donations to support Jen and get supplies to the refugees if it was not for Twitter. I chose this picture because I felt as though it was one of the more moving posts, since it utilized text and photographs of the refugees and what Jen was witnessing. If it moved me, imagine how many others were moved by this post and found a way to help the cause. Additional groups were formed to help after she left to come home. Even the smallest philanthropies can use social media to highlight awareness on their issue. It is a great way to build a community of support for charitable work.