For Safer Life in Refugee Camp

The Report and The Gratitude: Part I | The Completion of Support Programs at Refugee Camp

On Marth 31st, 2018, JEN completed our support programs at the refugee camps in Zaatari. We’d like to take this opportunity to show our sincere gratitude to all those who have supported us.

When the crisis occurred in Syria in 2012, we launched an emergency program in Jordan to accept many refugees. We started to support mainly the Zaatari refugee camp, which had just been set in the northern Syria, and many other host communities of refugees scattered around the nation.

As the days went by, more and more refugees fled to the camp in Zaatari, located near Syrian border. The number of refugees at the camp was initially 20,000 or so, then grew rapidly 130,000 in just a few months, which caused a turmoil. As the refuge period was extended, the needs of refugees gradually changed, so did our programs fit to them.

Initially, our activities were centered on distribution of goods at the reception center and maintenance of sanitary environment, such as the installment of laundry, the promotion and improvement of sanitation knowledge, the education on saving water, the installment and management of public toilets and water reserve tank, the cleanness of camp, the maintenance of water supply and sewage system.

 

To be continued to part II.

For more details on our programs in Jordan, click here.

* The operation of JEN’s programs now has been handed over to other international organizations.

Need for the Right Sanitary Education

It’s crucial to educate parents before to habituate children to sanitation in their daily life. That is why JEN’s sanitary education team launched a training session at the parents meeting, a counterpart of Parent-Teacher Association in Japan, teaching parents and school teachers various things, from a proper way to wash hands to an appropriate knowledge on the child-specific infection and the menstruation.

In Hawara Basic School for Girls, based on the hearing from the principal, the session was set to provide necessary information of the prevention and appropriate response to infectious diseases, as well as sanitation education.

As for infectious diseases, we mainly talked about lice and skin diseases, which affect children most. In many cases, parents and children are too ashamed of being infected with lice to go to hospital, so we usually teach them the first aid to cope with it at home.

Furthermore, we talked about the mensuration as the session took place at the girls school. Out of convention, many parents still find the conversation on mensuration tabooed, which often causes the confusion among girls with their first period. We stress the important role for parents to explain to their children what it is. Although it’s easy these days to get access to various information through the internet, it may be hard to tell if it’s right or wrong without proper knowledge. So we commit ourselves to providing the correct information on mensuration. As there has been few occasion so far to talk about this subject, the session continued for more than 2 hours with tons of questions asked from parents and teachers.

We do expect that those about 120 participants, mostly mothers and teachers, will pass what they learned on to their children and communities later on.

To ensure that children can study in a safe and secure school

Our host community teams are engaged in the restoration and expansion of 11 public school buildings.

In Marw Basic School for Girls in Irbid province, on the border between Syria and Jordan, we’ve just completed a part of the restoration of classrooms and corridors. 318 students study in this school, both Jordanite and Syrian, from 6 to 12 years old.

Although the annual average temperature is quite alike between Tokyo and Amman, the capital city of Jordan, no air conditioners are installed in the classrooms. There’s no window glasses in the corridor sheltering from cold winds, which chill out the classroom, neither from rain which drenches the floors hazardously slippery.

Due to the restoration, window glasses with frames were built on the corridors to prevent rain and winds. The floors were refurnished too, paved with the high-strength, stain-free and anti-slip porcelain tiles, so that they can stay safe and clean for long time.

In this school, there is another construction ongoing to expand 4 more classrooms. 4 engineers of JEN have been working on the construction site day by day to ensure that Jordanite and Syrian children can concentrate on the study in a safe and secure environment.

[Before the restoration]

As suggested by a white mortar part, the original corridor walls were too low to keep away children from falling over, or to prevent rain and wind from blowing in. It was especially dangerous in winter, when it rains so often. The floor was made of cement, which is easy to absorb the dirt, not hygienically ideal.

[After the restoration]

The corridors are reinforced with high walls and windows, so that no more rain and wind will blow into the classrooms. The floors are paved with porcelain tiles, which are very strong and hard to get stained and slippery.

The classrooms are repainted, the floors are repaired so that students can study in more hygienic environment.

One Ordinary Day of A NGO staff

At 6 am in the morning. Early dawn light leaking from the window. I push the snooze button twice to shut down the attempt of an alarm clock to wake me up.

At 6:20, I give up finally and wake myself up. A few minutes for tiding up, another few for quick breakfast with yogurt. 20 minutes later, I’m at the parking lot of JEN’s branch office in Amman, which is five-minute walk away from my apartment.

At 6:45, I climb up to a van with 3 other international staff, which is heading up for north, picking up 2 more local staff on the way. A 90-minute drive with bright morning light beaming through the car windows makes me drowse for a while.

At Zaatari at 7:50, show up the ID cards to Jordan police to pass through the entrance gate. After putting the bags in the office, a small module house located in the base camp surrounded with UN and other NGOs’ offices, I’m on the way to a tiny coffee shop run by a refugee family. With colleagues gathering in front of the shop, one after another, exchanging “Good morning” and “Sabah El Kheir” each other. Going back to the office with coffee, I check the mailbox on my computer.

A meeting at 9:00, with local colleagues on the inspection sheet. The inspection is aimed to evaluate how much impact our previous projects has made so far, and to make a plan for next ones.

At 10:00, wevisit to an office of other organization for a meeting. We talk about the collaborated project, which is about to end at the end of this month.

Another meeting at 11:00, with local at JEN office.

At 12:30, I visit the construction site for a JEN community center. That used to be made of tents, which have been worn out for 5 years, so we decided to rebuild a new makeshift house with sandwich panels and galvanized iron sheets.

[construction of a new JEN community center]

Later on, I walk back to the office in the base camp. I find the spring warmth surrounding the neighborhood these days, while it’s been very cold just till last week. Now some people get out of their temporary houses, enjoying the coffee time sitting on the blanket, with old people sunbathing in the chair. On my way back, everyone inviting to come and join them.
Dropping by to Champs-Élysées. The street, named after the famous Parisian avenue, were filled with many shops alongside, but now has been deserted. As the camp has expanded, the commercial part has moved to the other place called “Market Street,” much busier with more traffics and trading. The phrase of “Vision of a Torn World” comes up in my mind; “The flow of the river is ceaseless, and its water is never the same.”

[the present day of Champs-Élysée]

 
At 14:00. A phone call from a colleague in Amman. I’m supposed to return there by 16:00 for a meeting, but he says he wants me back earlier. I book a car and set off at past 14:00.

Arrive at 16:00 in Amman office for the meeting. 

The meeting ends at 18:00. We’ve talked to go to Yoga class if the work has done earlier, but we give a raincheck to it. Walking back home. I share the apartment with 2 other staff but have the dinner alone tonight. Catching up with them at the after-dinner tea time, chatting for a little while, then I go back to my room around 20:00. Before sneaking into the bed, I remember there’re 2 emails waiting for my reply within today. And I say to myself, “Oh, I’ll have to write a new post for JEN staff blog,” which I’m working on right now.

Appointment to JEN Jordan

Hello everyone! My name is Miyahara, and I just began working in Jordan from this week. This is my first time to work outside of Japan for JEN, and for this blog, I would like to talk about some of the preparation and the move to Jordan that I experienced this time.

There were so many things to prepare until departure. Since it is an overseas move, packing, preparing your passport, and getting vaccinations are self-explanatory. But these were not the only ones. I was overwhelmed with the amount of administrative procedures I needed to take such as, removing certificate of residence in Japan, contacting various companies and authorities of change of address, terminating cell phone contract, and renewing driver’s license. The list goes on…

Vaccinations: Hepatitis A, hepatitis B, rabies, tetanus, typhoid fever. I packed four boxes and sent them via EMS.
My last day at the Tokyo HQ. Ms Kiyama, our Co-President greeted me for my departure.

The departure day came so quickly. Travel including transfer and passport control went very smoothly and I arrived in one piece in Amman, Jordan’s capital. I arrived on Friday, which is the day of prayer for Islam. As I was traveling by car in Amman, we passed by a mosque. As we got nearer to the mosque, we found so many cars being parked randomly on the street, eventually blocking the street and trapping us between parked cars. The driver was a bit frustrated and exclaimed “It is fine that they come to the mosque to pray, but they cannot park their cars in the middle of the street!”.

Now that I am safely arrived in Amman, job handover will start. I hope that I can have a smooth and quick take-off to my new job, and focus my energy into working for the Syrian refugees and the Jordanian people.

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JEN will be there for the most vulnerable households to keep providing the support they need.

【JEN is now accepting donations. Your help would be very much appreciated. DONATE here】

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