KILIS, Turkey – Dodging bullets and bombs to personally hand out blankets and food to some of the many destitute refugees of Syria’s anti-regime civil war, a 21-year-old Dutchman is proof that even one man can make a difference.
Wijbe Abma is a regular face In the Turkish border town of Kilis, the gateway to the ancient Syrian city of Aleppo which has become a battleground in the uprising to oust President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
But “Wibi,” as he is fondly called by the many who know him here, is not your average aid worker: He is a one-man charity.
Enjoying a puff from a narguile pipe at a cafe favored by Syrian activists, other regulars greet him in words of Arabic or English as they come and go. While journalists and aid workers have come and gone, Wijbe has remained since arriving in October 2012 to try and bring a little relief to the hordes of Syrian refugees suffering just across the border.
Working alone, independently and without the support of any large organization his work is Syria, where an estimated 70,000 have died in an uprising now in its third year, began somewhat by chance.
It was after he finished an exchange student program in South Korea that he decided to return home to the Netherlands overland, backpacking and stopping in the Turkish city of Antakya along the way. It was there that he met a Syrian father whose son was killed as the family fled the fighting at home for Turkey.
Moved by the story, he wanted to learn more about the uprising and civil war in Syria. Wijbe soon realized that the miserable refugee camps in Turkey housed only a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of displaced people who were stranded at makeshift camps inside Syria, waiting to get into Turkey. A harsh winter was approaching, and those people had nowhere to turn for food or shelter.
This led him to Kilis, where he decided to spend the last of his savings to buy 100 blankets for the hapless refugees in the Syrian border town of Azaz. He had no experience, and no idea which blankets would be the warmest and best suited to their needs. In the end, he bought them, went to Azaz, and told authorities he wanted to hand them out. They laughed in his face.
“As they laughed, they told me to give them the blankets, and that they would distribute them. I didn't want to do that, since I had no idea where they would end up,” he recalls. Finding no other way to distribute them, Wijbe headed into the heart of the civil war, in Aleppo, to distribute the blankets himself.
“I never wanted to go to Aleppo. It just seemed too dangerous. But at some point I was simply frustrated, and I wanted to get something done,” he says. “So I went there, I met with families I was told would suffer through the winter, and I gave them all in person. It took me a week.”
Wijbe returned to Kilis, and decided to start a website to collect donations. He then decided to return to Holland to raise attention to the plight of the refugees. It was there that his story took a surprising turn: While upto now his little endeavor had raises snickers among some people who learned about it, back home his story gained rapid media interest.
He had raised more than €40,000 by mid-January, which he spent to deliver 500 more blankets and more than a thousand boxes of food, which he now distributes regularly on his frequent trips to Aleppo.
“With blankets we had a logistics issue: We had to assess the needs, and that took some time. Plus, winter is almost over. Now, I focus on food, because it's simple. Everybody needs food. I'd try and get them medicines, but I simply don't know enough about it,” he confesses.
His 13-kilogram food boxes each contains basic vital supplies such as rice, lentils, pasta, oil and sugar.
It was on one of his runs to Aleppo that Wijbe met young photojournalist Tom Daams. The 28-year-old has made a name for himself covering the Syrian crisis, and was instrumental in gaining Wijbe media attention after the two struck a friendship.
“Well, he basically saved my life,” Daams says, recounting how Wijbe had come to his help, even though the two had never met. Daams, in trouble with a group of local fighters and not knowing where to turn, had sent a message to Wijbe through his Facebook page. The fellow Dutchman came to get him, and found him a place to sleep.
When Daams returned to Holland, he went on a popular television talk show to speak about Wijbe’s gallant work. That gained Wijbe even more attention.
“Really, the project started small and snowballed. I'm surprised I didn't lose control over it at some point,” Wijbe says.
The young Dutchman is determined to keep doing what he can to improve the situation in Syria, and intends to make another fundraising trip to Holland.
“It's not like I have to do it, but now that I have the means it just seems like I have to,” he grins.
