Warm clothes distributed to Syrian refugees in Zaatari to support them face winter

At the beginning of December 2013, winter is coming to Zaatari camp in northern Jordan. To get ready to face the cold temperatures, a winterization program had launched at the beginning of the month by organizations working in the camp and JEN is taking an active part of it by distributing warm clothes to the Syrian refugees.

During the winter months, the temperatures drop in Jordan and Zaatari camp located in the north west of the country makes no exception. In fact, since it is located in the desert the nights can be very hard to endure especially for the thousands of families still living in tents, with kids and babies.

To help them face the harsh temperatures, JEN is distributing personalized family packages containing sets of warm clothes for every family member. To fit the needs of each household, the bags distributed are organized in a system of more than 350 different types corresponding to each type of family resident in the camp. For example,  Type 1 is for a couple with no children while Type 144 is for a couple with eight children.

[A type 85-bag means the family is composed of 2 males, 3 females and 4 kids]

The distribution started from the end of October 2013 and to date, with an average of 2 distributions per week, 10 out of 12 districts of the camp have been covered so far. A new day dawning marks the onset of a distribution day for JEN’s staff as the trucks need to be loaded by 5am. They then take the road for an hour drive to go to the camp in a convoy of 8 to 16 trucks depending on the size of the district.

[A beautiful sunrise on the way to Zaatari is  the best reward for JEN’s team waking up before dawn twice a week!]

Each truck is loaded with boxes to be distributed to one or two streets in a district. When the trucks arrive at the camp, each of them is accompanied by JEN’s staff member who would lead the way to the destination.

In each street, one of the caravans is emptied and ready to receive the boxes for distribution. The boxes are unloaded from the truck to the caravan, and opened to be ready for the distribution of blue bags.

[Refugees gathering in front of the caravan to be called to collect their bags]
[refugee in charge calls the names of households from the distribution list provided by JEN]

[Once called, the refugees hand their ration cards to JEN’s staff member to verify their identity… ]

[A staff member hands over a blue bag]
[Even when the bag is too big, the kid insists to be the one who carry it back home]

[Children like to wear the bag tags as necklaces]

When visiting the districts in which the distribution has been done in the previous weeks, JEN receives positive feedbacks from the refugees. Refugees are happy about the quality of clothes, the personalized packages and the way they have been involved in the distribution process.

The distribution is going smoothly and as scheduled. By mid-December 2013, all the families in Zaatari will receive warm clothes to face the cold winter.

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