Mohamad drives with one hand, squinting at the afternoon sun as his phone rings for the fifth time in the past half an hour. The lanky 25-year-old Syrian shrugs the mobile to his ear with one shoulder, scribbling numbers on a Post-it as he repeats them out loud: “$1,000 to Tripoli; $200 to Hiba’s family; $300 to Umm Hanan; $10,000 for the operation.”

Mohamad is part of a Syrian volunteer team trying to fill the massive gaps left by inadequate international aid. Its 40-plus members — they’re not affiliated with or themselves an NGO to avoid red tape — raise money via social media from private donors who are mostly Syrian expatriates in Europe, America, and the Gulf for refugees without access to UN or NGO aid in Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon.

Their media team is all female, five Syrians living in the Gulf who receive case descriptions and publicize them on the group’s Facebook page. Donations are organized from Amman and sent via Paypal or Western Union to field workers like Mohamad who pick up the cash, distribute it, take photos to use in subsequent fundraising, and report back. There’s no physical office in Lebanon. Instead, the team coordinates everything via Facebook.

Everyone on the team is a refugee. Their average age is 25. Many fled Syria alone. No one gets paid.

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