People energy in Za’atari Camp

“The strong sun blazes down on the dry ground in Jordan. The dust raised by the wind hurts my eyes.  I sometimes hate the beautiful sky without any clouds.”
Today is my sixth day to go to the camp as an intern. The sentences above are what I kept in my diary on my first day in the camp.

In the camp, I was impressed not only by its severe climate but also by its aspect of “organized town”. The camp is divided into 12 districts and along the main road called “Champs Elysees”, people in the camp are selling some food like vegetables and meats, clothes, perfumes and toys. To my surprise, I heard it also had a game arcade. I felt energy  and power of youth. There is electricity and water flowing through the “town”, and the roads are paved with concrete. And the community has emerged among the people who were completely strangers originally. The emergence of economy and society made me feel  as if I saw a history of  growth of  a city in fast forward..

I’m now working in a team that publishes   the JEN magazine every month. The magazine, called “Al-Tariq” (The Road in Arabic) is a magazine of refugees, by the refugees and for the refugees in the camp. The volunteer team is composed of the refugees. Their main task is to collect articles from people in the camp. One of the members of the team told me with great pride that he was a journalist. They all finished journalist trainings organized by JEN.

I thought that the role of the refugee camp is to be a shelter for the people who fled from their home countries because of wars.  However, now I’m sure that this camp has another role, which is the camp for learning and better life.
The other day, I saw a lot of women were attending a lecture about health in the community center and heard that the women in the “up-cycling” project took part in a session for tailoring to make other useful items. I felt that the people in the camp were making efforts to improve their living place by joining various sessions planned by international organizations and working together with them. That is my new perspective of the refugee camp.

Is it overstated if I would say people in the camp can create something from nothing by using their ideas? I found the magazine full of ideas which aim to make their severe life in the camp better and brighter. This process, I think, provides a lot of learning to live for the people in the camp.

In addition to the sunlight which becomes stronger and stronger as time goes by, Ramadan, starting from today, would definitely bring them hunger and thirst. That makes it more difficult for me in the camp as well, but I will keep studying about the camp from JEN staff and the people in the camp.

Hori

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