Irish woman en route to one of Syria’s worst-hit cities to support child amputees

KERRY WOMAN ANNE O’Rourke has spent the past decade helping Syrian refugees displaced by war, founding the charity TIAFI in Izmir, Turkey, to support families rebuilding their lives.

Now, for the first time since the fall of Bashar al-Assad, she is travelling to Homs, one of the cities hardest hit by Syria’s civil war, to help establish a new base for the charity’s work in a country where the scars of conflict remain starkly visible.

TIAFI is primarily funding physiotherapists to support child amputees and children with undiagnosed conditions affecting their mobility – needs that have gone untreated for many years amid the devastation of war and the collapse of essential services.

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Two physiotherapists with the charity are working out of a small rented garage in Homs, which Anne is hoping to fully renovate and fit out with specialist equipment in the future.

In Turkey, O’Rourke worked alongside a large team of volunteers providing Syrian refugees with hot meals and educational support, as well as assistance for children with additional medical needs.

Now, as most of the people who relied on those services have left Turkey, the charity is winding down its work there and redirecting its efforts towards Syria.

TIAFI is currently supporting 30 children with free physio sessions, but there is a demand for expanded supports. 

“We have a waiting list as long as your arm, with over 60 children on it.

“You are talking about children with scoliosis and cystic fibrosis who never got proper medical intervention or treatment because of the war and its impact, and then also children who have had amputations due to injuries they sustained in strikes during the war,” O’Rourke explained.

A little girl with an undiagnosed bone density condition, whose father had made homemade arm casts for prior to receiving support from TIAFI.

Explosive remnants of war continue to threaten civilians across the country, with a UNICEF report published this year estimating that five million children live in areas contaminated by landmines and unexploded weapons.

As families return to their homes, many are also returning to places where unexploded ordnance remains a deadly danger.

Between December 2024 and February 2026, 1,891 civilian casualties from explosive remnants of war were recorded in Syria, including 698 deaths and 1,193 injuries. Children accounted for 40% of those affected, with 205 killed and 480 injured.

A long journey to Homs

Though the plan was always to move from Syria to Izmir once the situation stabilised somewhat in Syria, travelling there is not without its risks, and O’Rourke is apprehensive.

The Irish government currently advises against all travel to the country as there is no Irish embassy there – so consular assistance may be limited if the security situation on the ground shifts quickly.

“I feel it’s very important to go there to support the move of our services, and to see for myself the situation that my colleagues are describing on the ground, but I’ll be glad once the journey’s over and we’re there,” she explained.

“We will fly into Beirut and travel by car from there, first to Homs, and then to Idlib and Damascus, before returning to Homs,” she added.

Ben Hennesy is one of the small team of volunteers travelling with O'Rourke. He's pictured here with children who visited the TIAFI centre in Izmir previously.

She said that in today’s world where wars are dominating the news cycle, and people are fatigued from hearing about the impact of conflicts and catastrophe, it’s become difficult to raise funds.

“People want to donate to Gaza right now, they aren’t thinking about Syria, so that’s the challenge we are up against. How do you get people to care about the children after the war, whose lives are now forever changed,” she reflected.

Currently her charity has raised just over €1,500 of their target of €25,000 to help set up their new physio clinic.

O’Rourke, who initially moved to Izmir for a private sector job, but changed course after seeing the struggles facing Syrian refugees that were coming into Turkey, said that she has everyone in her life “plagued” with donations requests.

“It’s what every penny I have has gone into and I’ve become like a beggar asking everyone I know to contribute too.

“So I’m hoping that by going there myself, and showing what the situation on the ground is like in Homs and Idlib, I will be able to drum up more support from back home in Ireland,” she said.

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