Despite war and the coronavirus, an Austrian Melkite priest opened a bakery in Damascus, Syria, which provides bread every day for more than 10.000 people in need. Due to the extreme rate of inflation, many people in Syria are in need. The mission of the priest is to help them survive these difficult days, and to protect the families from death or famine.

After the opening of his bakery, Ghoneim told the Information Christlicher Orient organisation: “Today, a normal employee earns 20-30 euros per month. How could anyone feed a family of  five with such an income?” Additionally, unemployed people get a very small amount of dole. “Sometimes they get subsidies but not regularly, and with two- or three-month-long intervals.”

The bakery also gives jobs to many people. There are currently ten employees working for the Austrian priest, but long-term, he is planning to employ twenty more workers.

The project is run by the Melkitian Greek-Catholic Patriarchate of Damascus, and its realisation has already cost 400,000 euro. Apart from Austria, Germany, Hungary and Sweden have also supported the project financially.  

Source: Vaticannews, Ungarn Heute