29/11/2013 – We arrived a the gate of Zaatari on Monday morning. It was teaming with life and colour, in stark contrast to the grey and dusty environment. The humanitarian communities’ compound was large and gave off a sense of permanency which not surprisingly also seemed to emanate from this huge tent camp with its ring road of 8 kms and its total area of around 5.4 hectares – the second largest refugee camp in the world.
ECHO’s largest implementing partner for providing assistance in this crisis is the UN Refugee Agency. I was therefore particularly interested to see at least some of the work that they were doing in the camp. Our guide from UNHCR that morning was Aoife McDonnell, Assistant External Relations Officer. She had been in the camp almost since its opening two years ago. “It gets under your skin” she laughed; “I did leave for a couple of months but quickly returned”.
She first showed us the reception and registration area, which at its peak earlier this year was having to deal with an average of 2 500 people crossing the border every night. The majority were from Homs and Hama. Last night there were 334 arrivals – young families mostly with toddlers and pre-school children. On arrival they were greeted with a family food package and all children under 15 immediately received a polio vaccine. They were each given a mattress and a blanket and then they waited to be registered when the sun rose. We talked to several families who had taken over 20 days to arrive. One couple with 4 children had sold all their possessions, including their house, to pay for the trip which cost them 20 000 Syrian pounds They travelled mostly by car, but changed frequently until they arrived at an area near the border covered with boulders and rocks. Ahmed, the young father, described how he and his wife and four children had walked over this terrain for over six hours before arriving at the border. The family were exhausted but no longer terrified. “You just can’t imagine how it feels to be finally safe”.
As in all wars, the most vulnerable suffer, and children are at the forefront of this suffering. A humanitarian volunteer told us that every time a Jordanian plane flew over the camp, children would run in all directions terrified that a bomb or shell would be dropped. Another described terrified children cowering from the noise of rain falling on a corrugated iron roof which to them sounded like gunfire. It will take a long time for the children to feel safe and to recover from the traumas of war and violence.
Our next visit was to an adolescent friendly space where humanitarians try to provide some relief for traumatised and troubled youngsters living in the camp. One programme being run by the International Medical Corp, is one of the projects funded by ECHO through its partner Save the Children. A protected area called the “Youth Empowerment Centre” provides an effective and stimulating way of helping youngsters whose lives have been torn apart. It gives them the opportunity to paint, to model, to play with computers, to watch videos – all in a therapeutic environment with specialists and volunteers trained in psychosocial support. Five centres have been set up in Zaatari and they take around 80 boys and 80 girls in separate sessions morning and afternoon over a ten week period. Vulnerable children are flagged up by volunteers in the camp and referred to the centres. Two young boys – Ahmed and Ali – enthusiastically showed us their latest artwork – Ahmed’s aquarium complete with tropical fish and plants made from polystyrene and a model of the mosque in Ali’s home town. When asked what they would wish for if Aladin’s genie could grant them a wish – both replied, without hesitation – “to return home to Syria”. This project, together with catch- up classes for the refugees who make up over 50% of the camps approximately 80 000 occupants, is helping youngsters who have experienced what no child should ever experience – and is helping them to overcome their traumas and anxieties. The future of Syria will depend on these boys and girls, and until they can return to their homeland, all must be done to ensure that they are not a “lost generation”
Janice George,
Information Officer,
European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection