The Syrian community in the United States is not one wave, it is several stacked on top of each other. Families who arrived generations ago and built businesses in Detroit, Chicago and New Jersey. Doctors and engineers who came in the seventies and eighties. Students who came for a degree and stayed. And the most recent arrivals, still finding their footing. What they share is the eight-to-nine-hour time difference — the thing that quietly decides everything about staying in touch.
That gap is the practical problem Jawlaha Gifts solves. You place the order in the evening in New York or Los Angeles; the work happens during the Syrian day, while you are asleep. You are not coordinating anything in real time, and nobody in Syria has to be at a particular place at a particular hour to receive money and then go shopping. You choose, we buy, we deliver.
For second-generation senders, there is an extra difficulty: you may not know the shops, the streets, or how much anything should cost anymore. That is fine — you tell us what you want to arrive and roughly where, and the local knowledge comes from our side. The recipient’s address and phone number are all we actually need from you.
A large share of orders from the US are groceries and staples for parents, and sponsored food baskets for families the sender has never met. Both work the same way: bought locally, delivered to a door, confirmed back to you.
How it works
Choose what to send
In the Jawlaha app, pick the items and the shops inside Syria to buy them from, plus the recipient’s name, address and phone number — and a note for the occasion if you want one.
We send you one quote
Our team reviews the order and sends you a single all-inclusive price in Syrian pounds covering the items, the service and the delivery.
Pay by money transfer
Transfer the amount through Al Haram Al Fouad exchange or Western Union, then send us the transfer number and a photo of the receipt.
We buy it and deliver it
Once the transfer is confirmed, a Jawlaha driver buys everything from the shops and hands it to your family at their door inside Syria.
The price comes in Syrian pounds
You think in dollars; the quote arrives in Syrian pounds, because that is what the shopping and the delivery cost on the ground. You get one all-inclusive figure from our team before you transfer anything.
Paying by money transfer
Payment is by money transfer — through Al Haram Al Fouad exchange or Western Union. When we send your quote we confirm how to send it from the US and what details you will need. Nothing starts until the transfer is confirmed.
Occasions that matter from the USA
Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha
Sweets, new clothes for the children, or the whole holiday food shop delivered before Eid morning — sent from an evening in the US, arriving in the Syrian day.
Ramadan
A month of staples delivered at the start of the month, so iftar is not a calculation. Order it before Ramadan begins and it lands on time.
Syrian Mother’s Day, 21 March
Not the American one in May — Syria marks it on 21 March. Flowers, a cake or a gift arriving on the actual day carries more than the same thing arriving a week late.
Graduations and back to school
A gift for a nephew finishing school, or the September shopping — books, bags, shoes — arriving before term starts.
What you should know before you send
You are wiring money to a distant country for someone you love. Here are straight answers to the questions in your head right now.
Why payment is by transfer, not by card
Because card rails do not reliably reach Syria. A transfer through an exchange office or Western Union is the route that actually gets funds into the country and into the hands of the team who will do the buying.
It is the same reason everything inside Syria is cash on delivery: we use the payment method that works rather than the one that looks modern. It is also why we ask for the transfer number and a photo of the receipt — they are what ties your payment to your order, and nothing starts until we have confirmed them.
And if the order cannot be fulfilled?
Every order is quoted individually by our team before you pay, and the quote can be affected by what is actually available in the shops and at what price.
If an order cannot be fulfilled after payment, or a paid order is cancelled, we refund the amount you paid less the non-refundable service fee, via the same transfer method you paid with, within up to seven business days — and you can follow the refund status in the order details.
You do not have to know the person receiving it
A lot of what we carry is not a gift in the usual sense: a food basket for a family going without, or help reaching someone you have never met — sadaqa that arrives at a door instead of passing through intermediaries.
You decide what to send and to which area, and we handle the buying and the handover inside Syria as if you were there yourself.
We deliver on electric bikes
We use electric bikes for delivery wherever we can: less noise on the streets of the cities we work in, and less pollution in their air.
It is a deliberate choice on our side. It costs you nothing — it just means your gift arrives a little more quietly and a lot more cleanly.
A team that speaks your language
The Jawlaha team works in Arabic and English. Write to us in either, and the same person follows your order from the first message to the moment it is handed over.
Talk to a human before you send
The first gift is always the hardest one. Write to us in Arabic or English and we will walk you through every step before you pay anything.
Where your gift arrives inside Syria
Jawlaha Gifts delivers to recipients across Syria. These cities have pages of their own, and the recipient’s city is confirmed with you order by order.
Distance does not have to mean absence
Choose what to send, and we take care of the rest inside Syria.
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Frequently asked
How do I send a gift to Syria from the USA?
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Does the time difference matter?
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I do not know the shops in my family’s city anymore — is that a problem?
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Can I send a food basket to a family I do not know?
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Sending from somewhere else?
Germany · the UK · the Netherlands · Saudi Arabia · the UAE · Qatar · Kuwait · Egypt