1) Stay hydrated

Staying hydrated is tough when you’re fasting from sunrise until sunset, especially when Ramadan falls during the summer time. However, drinking plenty of fluids for hydration from iftar until suhour will make you feel more alert and reduce thirst during your daily fast. Try to drink 8–12 cups of water a day.

2) Beware of sugary drinks

We all agree that drinking lots of fluids is important for hydration. But what about special Ramadan drinks like tamarind, hibiscus and fresh fruit juices?Although these delicious treats are a source of fluids, they contain a lot of sugar! So beware and try to consume them in moderation.

3) Never skip sohour

When you’re fasting, sohour becomes the most important meal of the day. Sohour is the early morning meal eaten before the sun rises and the daily fast begins. It helps fuel your body and keep you hydrated for the day ahead until iftar — the meal served at sunset to break the daylong fast.

Try to have a balanced sohour that contains complex carbohydrates, fibre and proteins. Complex carbohydrates — like oats, grains and beans — will keep you fueled and feeling full for most of the day. Fibre-rich foods — like dates, figs bran and whole grains — are digested by your body slowly. And proteins — like eggs, cheese and yoghurt — will give you energy throughout the day.

4) Cut down on sweets

Avoid heavily processed foods that contain refined carbohydrates such as sugar and white flour, as well as fatty foods like Ramadan desserts. They are high in fat and low in nutrients.

5) Break your fast slowly

While it is tempting to overindulge at iftar, there is wisdom behind the tradition of breaking the fast slowly with dates and water. Dates are a great source of energy and they help your body release digestive enzymes in preparation for the upcoming meal. Next, have a light appetizer like warm soup or a salad. Once you’ve given your stomach a chance to prepare for the meal ahead, then bon appetit until sunrise!

Want to help children in Yemen and Palestine this Ramadan? It’s easy! Join our #ShareYourIftar campaign and celebrate the spirit of giving.

5 tips to keep you healthy and happy this Ramadan was originally published in World Food Programme Insight on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

On what would be the hardest day of her life, Alaa stood at her mother’s grave and said her final goodbyes. Holding her younger sister close, she made a firm decision that day to stay strong and uphold her mom’s approach to life: you can either choose to enjoy the life you have, or crumble under its pressures.

When I ask about the rest of her family, the 26-year-old laughs, “we’re orphans, my sister and I.” Losing both her parents in the span of four years, you’d think the girl would be broken. She is not. In fact, she exudes positivity and optimism.

Alaa’s life tips

Alaa and I met at a World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse where she works. She’s part of a team who prepares millions of food packages for families who have been affected by the 7-year-long war in Syria.

During our short chat, Alaa talked about the challenges she’s faced over the past seven years and how she got this job. What stood out to me most was her resilience and ability to keep such a positive outlook on life despite everything she’s gone through. I asked her to share her secret and here’s what she said:

Fleeing hunger

Families in Moadamiyah, a Damascus suburb, suffered a two-year siege that cut them off from the outside world. What was once a vibrant agricultural center became the site of intense human suffering, hunger and deprivation. When Alaa and her family finally managed to escape their home there in 2014, they found a space to settle in a town called Kisweh, about 25 km away from Syria’s capital city.

“Sure, the siege was horrible, but what matters is that we got out in one piece, I found a job that I love, and I was able to resume my studies and graduate from university,” Alaa explains with a refreshing zest for life. “Having a job also means I could afford my mom’s treatment until her final days and that in itself is a blessing I am thankful for.”

She’s a proud Commerce graduate from the University of Damascus, the biggest university in Syria and she’s now saving up to pursue her Master’s degree. Although it’s just her and her sister now, she’s not in a hurry to start a family of her own to make up for lost loved ones. For now, she wants to give her all to her studies and her work.

A job, an opportunity to help others

WFP has eight warehouses strategically located across Syria where it prepares food rations for shipment to help 3 million people put food on the table every month. The warehouse that Alaa works at is located in Kisweh, where up to 12,000 food rations are packaged daily.

World Food Programme on Twitter

Every day, thousands of food rations are packaged at this WFP warehouse and shipped to families across #Syria. 🎦👀 Join our @WFP_MENA colleagues on a quick tour of Kisweh warehouse. https://t.co/8XS5ygiu5X

The conflict in Syria has drastically eroded livelihoods and caused the unemployment rate in the country to skyrocket to sixty percent. As a humanitarian worker who has witnessed just how difficult unemployment can be for people in Syria, I am proud to work for an organisation that creates opportunities for youth like Alaa.

“My hope for Syria and all Syrians will soon have peace and I know we will get there,” Alaa says. “And my hope for myself is to get my Master’s degree and I know I’ll get there. I won’t let everything I’ve lost hold me back.”

In Syria, WFP is also increasing its support for long-term recovery by focusing on livelihoods activities in food production, vocational skills and on rehabilitating agricultural community assets like damaged water systems.

If you’d like to learn more about WFP’s work in Syria, click here.

5 life tips for a positive mindset was originally published in World Food Programme Insight on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

1) Stay hydrated

Staying hydrated is tough when you’re fasting from sunrise until sunset, especially when Ramadan falls during the summer time. However, drinking plenty of fluids for hydration from iftar until suhour will make you feel more alert and reduce thirst during your daily fast. Try to drink 8–12 cups of water a day.

2) Beware of sugary drinks

We all agree that drinking lots of fluids is important for hydration. But what about special Ramadan drinks like tamarind, hibiscus and fresh fruit juices?Although these delicious treats are a source of fluids, they contain a lot of sugar! So beware and try to consume them in moderation.

3) Never skip suhour

When you’re fasting, suhour becomes the most important meal of the day. Suhour is the early morning meal eaten before the sun rises and the daily fast begins. It helps fuel your body and keep you hydrated for the day ahead until iftar — the meal served at sunset to break the daylong fast.

Try to have a balanced suhour that contains complex carbohydrates, fibre and proteins. Complex carbohydrates — like oats, grains and beans — will keep you fueled and feeling full for most of the day. Fibre-rich foods — like dates, figs bran and whole grains— are digested by your body slowly. And proteins — like eggs, cheese and yoghurt — will give you energy throughout the day.

4) Cut down on sweets

Avoid heavily processed foods that contain refined carbohydrates such as sugar and white flour, as well as fatty foods like Ramadan desserts. They are high in fat and low in nutrients.

5) Break your fast slowly

While it is tempting to overindulge at iftar, there is wisdom behind the tradition of breaking the fast slowly with dates and water. Dates are a great source of energy and they help your body release digestive enzymes in preparation for the upcoming meal. Next, have a light appetizer like warm soup or a salad. Once you’ve given your stomach a chance to prepare for the meal ahead, then bon appetit until sunrise!

Want to help children in Syria and Yemen this Ramadan? It’s easy! Join our #ShareYourIftar campaign and celebrate the spirit of giving.

5 tips to keep you healthy and happy this Ramadan was originally published in World Food Programme Insight on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is harvesting Jordan’s largest renewable energy source to power its offices

Did you know that Jordan is one of the sunniest places on earth? With over 300 sunny days a year, harnessing that solar energy is an opportunity we couldn’t pass up.

Jordan is one of the driest, and most resource-poor countries in the world. This means the country primarily generates its electricity by burning expensive fossil fuels. Needless to say, this leaves a massive carbon footprint that could be curbed by relying on renewable energy sources.

Climate change and hunger

Climate change affects rainfall, agriculture and food production, posing a direct threat to global food security and nutrition. Studies show that climate change could increase the risk of hunger and malnutrition by up to 20% by 2050. So, naturally, the world’s largest humanitarian organization fighting hunger worldwide is taking steps to reduce its carbon footprint wherever possible.

Cutting the carbon footprint

The first WFP office to make the full switch to solar energy is in Jordan. Totaling almost 100,000 square meters of sun-soaking surface area, the solar panels we installed will generate around 200 kW of power per hour. This same amount of energy if generated by burning fossil fuels, would emit about 23 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

“Every month when I sign electricity bill checks for the office I feel like I am throwing away money that should be saved,” said environmentally-conscious WFP Administration Officer Khaled Issa, the man behind this initiative. “Getting this programme up and running is an amazing feeling because I don’t have to sign those checks anymore — that money can go toward helping people.”

Previously, WFP’s electricity bill was tallying up to an average of US$10,000 per month — but now with solar energy, powering the office behind the life-saving humanitarian workforce will be completely free. That’s an extra US$120,000 that can go toward feeding families in Jordan.

“We couldn’t have made this achievement without the tremendous support from our Country Director. He encouraged us to keep going even when we faced obstacles,” Issa added.

WFP has been operating in Jordan since 1964 and has since initiated a wide range of development projects and emergency food aid operations in close collaboration with the government, corporate partners, NGOs and local communities.

Click here to learn more about WFP’s work in Jordan.

Sunlight: powering the biggest humanitarian aid agency in Jordan was originally published in World Food Programme Insight on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Ibtisam Alghofargi carries the world on her shoulders but shrugs it off for the sake of her nine children.

“On the first day of every month, the landlord bangs on the door and demands the rent,” she says. “This is the only thing I can predict. For everything else, I put my hand on my heart and pray.”

Their story starts in 2012, when heavy bombing closed in on their neighbourhood in Idleb, Syria. They waited for nightfall to walk away from what she described as certain death.

At first, they sheltered in a mosque, but when that too came under fire, they hired a van to take them to Lebanon. All they had when they arrived was each other and their passports.

Survival in Lebanon

“Now I’m the mother, the father, the cook and the doctor,” says Ibtisam. “I feel so guilty that I send my daughter to work, but we have no other choice.”

Ibtisam and her family live in a rundown flat in Nabaa, one of Lebanon’s poorest neighbourhoods, and survive on the wage her 14-year-old daughter earns at a local clothing shop and food aid from the World Food Programme (WFP). The stability of both is uncertain.

Schooling, clothing and even shampoo are luxuries Ibtisam’s family cannot afford.

All of their money pays the rent and whatever is left over is rationed to buy medicine for her daughter’s thyroid disease and severe asthma, and her son’s shrapnel injuries from Syria that still haven’t healed properly. During the winter, the other children suffer chronic bronchitis and asthma from the poor ventilation and lack of heating.

The waiting game

WFP helps almost 700,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon with debit cards that are automatically loaded with cash every month, so families can buy food from local supermarkets.

In 2015, WFP was forced to cut this support by half, pushing thousands of Syrian families into hunger and desperation. Many families pulled their children out of school so they could work to feed the family, causing child labour rates to increase. While the exodus to Europe was rooted in many factors, hunger was a critical push factor driving international migration.

World Food Programme on Twitter

There's a direct link between hunger & migration. When people don't have enough food they move https://t.co/svP1nu8tMG #WithRefugees https://t.co/DuwnaVMUv7

Ibtisam says a tiny bit of hope and the debit card are keeping her going. Without it, she would take her family abroad — despite the risky journey.

For the vast majority of families like Ibtisam’s, food assistance is the only humanitarian support they receive in Lebanon. Many share a crippling fear that this lifeline could be cut again.

“If our food card is cut again, we will die of hunger,” she says. “My heart breaks when the kids are hungry and I have nothing to feed them.

When the money on the card runs out, Ibtisam borrows food from neighbours or begs the supermarket for some bread or rice.

The day they fled Idleb was the last time Ibtisam saw or heard from her husband. He stayed behind with the older members of the family who wouldn’t have endured the journey. Ibtisam tries to keep his legacy alive by promising her children that their future will be better.

“My husband believed in the power of prayer and positive thinking,” she adds. “So I try to smile and take life one day at a time.”

You can help WFP provide food for Syrian families. DONATE TODAY.

Fatmeh recalls gasping for breath, ducking and crawling toward her husband Ahmad who was cradling their son Belal underneath the dining table when their neighbourhood in Idlib came under attack. They held each other until the shelling subsided and escaped that same day. The rest is all a blur.

“We had no choice. We had to leave,” Fatmeh explains. “The next thing I remember is climbing into a car that took us to the border and that’s where the real nightmare began.”

The brutal war in Syria has forced over one million Syrians to flee to Lebanon, where the bid for survival is growing bleaker by the day. The longer refugees stay in exile, the more vulnerable to hunger, illness and desperate they become.

It has been three years since Fatmeh and Ahmed arrived in Lebanon. During their first year, they could rely on humanitarian assistance to make ends meet, but when the humanitarian funding crisis began in 2013, all support stopped. A year later, their youngest son Moaz, was born and life became even harder.

At that time, the number of Syrian refugees receiving food assistance from the World Food Programme (WFP) fell by almost 30 percent in its initial efforts to prioritise those most in need. This year, as the crisis in Syria continues and funding challenges become more severe, WFP is prioritising the most vulnerable refugees for food assistance. This means that 50,000 refugees who can support themselves have stopped receiving support.

More about the cuts in food assistance

In January 2015, due to lack of funding, WFP was forced to reduce the amount of money loaded onto electronic food cards it provides for refugees from US$27 to US$19 per person each month. In July, deeper cuts were introduced, bringing the value down to US$13.5. Read the News Release.

This April, Fatmeh and Ahmad, living desperately, got the news that they would start receiving food assistance again, but it’s too little too late.

During their first year in Lebanon, Ahmad occasionally found work in construction or farming; this work is the reason why the family stopped getting external assistance. But the longer they stayed in Lebanon, the more these opportunities became scarce. To make matters worse, the couple had no choice but to skip meals, borrow and even beg for money and, worse, expose themselves to exploitative labour for low wages.

“Our son was born with heart complications and needs constant medical care, but we also need to eat to stay alive,” Fatmeh explained.

“When we can’t afford both medicine and food, I tie scarves around my boys’ bellies at night so they don’t wake up crying from stomach aches because they are hungry.” Fatmeh shares a common belief that tying something around your midsection would stave off hunger.

Fatmeh and Ahmad’s initial removal from humanitarian assistance put them on a downward spiral, pushing them into extreme poverty to a point that any extra shock could push them over the edge. These are the unintended consequences of reduced humanitarian assistance.

“Every time we take one step forward, we fall ten steps back. I have given up the hope that we will ever live normally again,” Fatmeh said, defeated. “I know the world has forgotten us too; we’re too much of a burden. They’ve given up on us too.”

In the middle of Ramadan, when refugees need support most, WFP in Lebanon has been forced yet again to reduce the amount of money it provides to Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

Story first published on wfp.org in 2015

Syrian refugee mother in Lebanon loses hope was originally published in World Food Programme Insight on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The 10-year-old, who lives less than two kilometers away from one of the most dangerous battlefields in Syria, insists that she is safe within the walls of her home and in the company of her loved ones. For Liene, living in a country devastated by war for half her life is insignificant.

“I do hear shelling and airplanes at night, but that doesn’t scare me,” she says plainly. “I just cover my ears and look out the window to see what’s happening then I carry on reading with my little brother. We’re used to these sounds now.” Liene makes remarkable statements like this with bold indifference.

“My country has everything I could ever wish for; my school and friends are here. Why would I ever give that up?”

When asked where she would go if she could escape the war, she looks clearly shocked: “I would never leave Syria!” she says dismissing the outrageous suggestion. “My country has everything I could ever wish for; my school and friends are here. Why would I ever give that up?”

Happiness in times of war

Her parents say she has always surprised and inspired them from the day she was born.
“On the way home from the hospital where Liene was born, I was studying her features when she looked me in the eyes and smiled,” her father says with admiration. “She has continued to amaze me in unexpected ways ever since.”

Liene starts her morning routine bouncing cheerfully around her home getting ready for school. She teases her siblings and giggles like any happy child would. You would feel she is consciously doing this to remind her fragile father that despair is unwelcome in their happy home.

She is steadfast, unwavering, never showing even the slightest sign of weakness that is expected of any person, let alone a child living in the midst of a brutal war. It is like Liene supports her family by denying herself the relief of fear and vulnerability and all that is left is a smiling girl, delighted by the gift of life.

Against all odds

Liene’s parents moved from the village where they met and fell in love in southern Syria to Ashrafiyat Sahnaya, a small town in rural Damascus that became home shortly after their marriage seventeen years ago.

From there, her father began his career as a chef in one of Damascus’ most renowned hotels; a profession that allowed him to provide generously for his wife and four children. But when the conflict started, tourists left the country one by one and the family’s rhythm broke.

The comfortable life they once enjoyed is a distant memory, yet Liene doesn’t notice the hardship her parents complain about. She holds that Syria is the most wonderful country in the world, that her school is the most beautiful school, that she is the happiest and luckiest girl, that her family is the most fortunate.

Sticking together

Her mother has become the bread winner for the family. The money she makes as a teacher at Liene’s school is barely enough to sustain the family’s needs, but it allows her to keep the usual pace of her children’s lives. She even gets to walk to and from school with them.

In the last five years, Ashrafiyet Sahnaya has transformed into a hub for hundreds of thousands of displaced families. But Liene’s family did not move. They chose to stay in their home regardless of its close proximity to the fighting. To them, death can come anywhere at any time. For them, sticking it out together it was a safer option than running towards the unknown.

Liene walks to school with her mother and younger brother. Photo:WFP/Dina El-Kassaby

WFP is investing in hundreds of thousands of Syrian children like Liene through a school feeding programme meant to boost micronutrient intake while improving enrolment and regular attendance. The programme is ongoing in areas with high concentrations of displaced families like Ashrafiyat Sahnaya thanks to support from the European Union.

Read more about WFP operations in Syria

Originally published at www.wfp.org on December 18, 2015.

The war in Syria couldn’t break this little girl was originally published in World Food Programme Insight on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.