Transition of Za’atari Refugee Camp

It has been more than 4 years since the Za’atari Refugee Camp was established in order to accept Syrian refugees. The camp started with 10 to 20 temporary tents for living set up in a vacant lot. Social infrastructures such as school, hospital, police station, supermarket, shopping center, amusement facilities, community center, water and sewage facilities have been constructed since then. The refugee camp has been transformed into a small city where approximately 80 thousand people are living. Given this number of inhabitants, it is easy to imagine each refugee and each family have various life styles.

On the one hand, there are families consisting of 3 to 4 household members that get together to help each other. On the other hand, there are fatherless families with small children who are living quietly in an uncomfortable environment where neighbors are talking about their family situation.

The man in the photo lives with his son’s family which consists of 3 household members. Four temporary houses adjoin each other on the premises and there is a large courtyard. In the courtyard, he raises more than one kind of crops and has ducks and chickens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The man in the garden]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The birds in the garden]

This lady has a son who is mentally unstable. Since he works at a tomato farm outside of the Camp, she spends almost all of her time alone at home, both in daytime and at night. Also, it is very hard for her to use a toilet because she has difficulty with her legs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The lady in the Camp]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The house’s toilet]

The time to provide minimum necessary emergency support for living to improve the lives of the Syrian refugees has gone. It is now vital to consider further support.

Each person or each family has different situation, e.g. having physical or mental difficulties, young and elderly without kith or kin, single mother as head of the family, and those needing nursing care.

Improvement of the quality of life for those who are in such status needs serious consideration. In addition to tackling these issues, we will cooperate not only with international (humanitarian) organization, but also with the local government and local companies to construct better social infrastructure for better lives and communities. Now is the right time to do this at Za’atari Refugee Camp.

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