Syrian in Cork sells soap in Ukrainian colours to assist victims of war

A SYRIAN citizen who now lives in Cork and runs her own cosmetics-making business created a new soap in the colours of the Ukrainian flag and donated all profits from its sale to the Ireland Red Cross for its work in Ukraine.

“I am Syrian, and I feel what Ukrainians feel; they are forced to leave their home country, and I was forced too,” she said.

Reham Ghafarji, who studied English literature at a university in Damascus, has been living in Ireland with her husband Wasim and their young family since 2017.

In March every year, she creates soaps with the Irish flag for St Patrick’s Day, and she decided a similar product was the ideal way to support Ukraine.

At the beginning of the war, the Red Cross in Clonakilty, where she lives, announced that they needed items from the local community to send to Ukrainians. One of those items was soaps and Reham donated her own products.

Later, the Red Cross mentioned that they need financial donations more than items.

“I wanted to help, but I can’t do much to give a lot of financial donations,” she said. “I thought it would be a good idea to make the Ukrainian flag on my soaps; I made 20 pieces, and I announced that all profits will go to Red Cross to stand with Ukraine.”

“Within the first two days of the announcement, I got more than 200 orders, which is great.”

Ms Ghafarji said that what’s going on in Ukraine reminds her of her home country.

“Everything reminded me of the same scenes in my country Syria. The same process of displacement and the same destruction.”