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AS THE WAR in Syria enters its seventh year, the effects it’s had on women have been particularly brutal.
The majority of those displaced are women, but fleeing the conflict didn’t mean they escaped violence and poverty. When they arrive in overcrowded refugee camps they must struggle to access basic services and start new lives.
Jordan’s Zaatari refugee camp
It’s a scorching morning in Jordan’s Zaatari refugee camp. Dust devils whip around the white prefabricated huts in this sprawling desert camp. A small group of women sit in front of sewing machines inside one of the Oxfam-run workshops.
The women are busy making tote bags out of canvas. I later find out the canvas is from the original tent city that stood here. They’ve turned this tiny space into a veritable factory assembly line, the heart of their new business venture making bags to sell in Amman’s markets and overseas.
Wars are so often viewed through the lens of men with guns and men making decisions. We seldom see the heroic roles women are playing in the background. But the women have their own stories. Many have lost not just their homes, but also their husbands and sometimes their children too.
New gender roles
Many Syrian refugee women have now become the heads of their households, their roles utterly changed, defying a cultural norm where men have always been the sole breadwinners. Syrian women used to need their husband’s consent to work outside the home but now, according to the United Nations, 42% of Syrian refugee families in Zaatari are female-headed households.
Nada, an Oxfam worker, tells me how Oxfam set up the sewing project to give women a sense of purpose and a small income. “This project aims to empower Syrian refugee women by building their skills in sewing but also gives them the opportunity to provide for their families’ needs”, she says.
She explains how without support families arrange child marriages for housing and financial reasons, or as a way out of the camp, even though these early marriages often lead to regret and teens dropping out of school. But when options are limited, getting married young can seem like a logical step.
‘Even though we are waiting, we are not doing nothing’
“Even though we are refugees waiting in Zaatari we are not doing nothing,” Suha, a shy 34-year-old grandmother, tells me as she tugs at the long sleeves of her loose red abaya, the ankle-length robe. Suha escaped from her war-torn native province of Daraa more than five years ago, along with her six children. Her first grandchild was born here in Zaatari. The family left to escape the constant shelling of their village and the military raids.
They were among the earliest residents of the Zaatari when it opened in 2012 – it’s since ballooned into the world’s biggest Syrian refugee camp. Every refugee in the camp has their own tale of loss, of hopes dashed and hardships endured.
Sahar is a widow and spends her days learning new gardening skills. “God only knows what the future holds, but I want to learn new things,” she says. “In Syria I used to garden in my house but I’m learning new techniques here. It means that I can earn some money for my children if I can find work with a Jordanian farmer.” People tell her to marry again. She’s still young, they say, and life must go on.
Making the most of a dire situation
Like all of the refugees here, Sahar and her children receive free food packages of rice, lentils, and other dry staples from the United Nations. It administers the camp together with the Jordanian government.
She makes a little more than €50 a month from her work at an NGO gardening project, but the job is about more than just earning money. “Work helps me forget a little,” Sahar says. “The women joke and laugh and help each other. And it reminds me of being in my little garden back in Syria.”
Despite the horrors they’ve fled, these women are making the most of their dire situation. Listening to these women chat about their working day in the greenhouses, at the sewing projects and their young families, I’m struck by the normalcy of their routines and worries.
Suha tells me about her granddaughter’s asthma and I could be chatting with almost any worried grandmother. It’s only when they talk about home that I’m reminded that these women are fleeing war.
There’s no going home for now
I had expected my visit to Zaatari to be difficult. I was ready to fight back tears as I listened to their stories. I did cry. It would be hard not to be moved when a new mother talks about her fears for her baby’s future.
All of these people have lived through such horrible atrocities that you wonder how they are still able to get up in the morning, never mind try to live something resembling a regular life.
“My home’s name is Daraa,” Amena tells me. As she begins to spell the southern Syrian province, I tell her that I already know how it is spelt. I have seen its bombed out towns on my television screen so many times.
Right now, there’s no going back home. Most of Zaatari’s residents took the rebels side and a Syria with Assad in control would be very dangerous for them now.
But does Amena think she will ever go back? “If the war ends I will go back but I don’t think I will be able to do this for years. I have to admit that I might never be able to. They [the Syrian regime] will come after us if we go back,” says Amena, as her foot hits the pedal of her sewing machine and continues hemming the bag’s handle.
Supported by the Simon Cumbers Media Fund.
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A hard earned, fragile but sacred peace that must be preserved.
@League of shadows: Totally agree and fair play the people in the north have move on and left their politicians a long way behind them.
I have to say at the time I was very cynical but I can see now it’s transformed the North and must be preserved.
@Deborah Behan: Yes it took great men to sort this out
@Ger Burke: Don’t forget about Mo Ger.
The Good Friday Agreement has being consistently undermined as the North South bodies were deliberately undermined and ignored by Unionism, facilitated by the British and encouraged by the silence and acquiescence of the Irish Govt.
Waking up after 20 yrs is better late than never I guess, but the prize of peace is too precious to squander on meaningless petty party politics!
The Govts are co guarantors and need to move towards joint authority to create the conditions for change!
When will politics function in Northern Ireland? For how long will they need others to sort out their differences? I embarrassed for both sides.
@Michael Lang: politics in NI will only function when there is true power sharing.
With DUP propping up tories, there is an imbalance.
England has yet again prioritized its interests (Brexit) over the needs of the NI people, I.e. return to the troubles is better than change of government which would destabilize Brexit. NI lives are worth less that English economy.
Ulster could have a special deal (Scots & welsh want it) & enjoy benefits of EU and UK .. for the price of a border in the Irish Sea.
An ideology of hate prohibits logical rational thinking.
@Mairtin Cathbhar: that’s an insightful and informative comment. I find it helpful.
@Mairtin Cathbhar: Mairtin – good ideology. Bad assumptions :
The Labour leader and party are no better.
Populist politics dominate the UK as they do here, the “show” is staged to suit the biggest and most important potential voters. They tell us what we want to hear, when did you last witness promises bearing fruition.
Career politicians are self serving generally, they focus on the economy, sadly all else of concern to voters depends on that. Is the Irish leadership different ?
How would Ireland be treated by the rest of the EU if it was to pull the plug on a negotiated Brexit and forced a hard Brexit instead ?
One thing that should have united both sides was the common betrayal of the interests of the people of Northern Ireland by Brexit.
It’s a sorry state of affairs that politicians of today in NI are incapable and afraid of making a decision.
Every time Blair opens his mouth my ears stop working and my blood pressure goes up. He should be in the Hague. Now he’s telling Theresa May she should attack Syria. He’s a disgusting creature and the MSM are trying to launch him back on the international stage despite not being elected by anyone anywhere.
@Patrick J. O’Rourke: Fully agree, every time I see his face or hear his voice I feel disgusted. Pity he didn’t take off his politicians smugness and revert to being a decent member of society before he comitted the UK to invade Iraq. Pity he didn’t pay attention to the huge public marches in every city of the UK protesting that decision.
He’s a constant embarrassment to UK citizens and should go back under his stone or feck off to a Bush cattle ranch in Texas.
@wattsed: Bas**rd blair is back on the rotten lying bbc pushing for war in syria….its laughable if it wasnt so serious….people in the west are screwed allowing this crap to go on.
The current bunch of politicians both unionist and nationalist are squandering 20 years of progress and letting the whole peace process slip away bit by bit – by their failure to see beyond their own tribal agenda.
@GO GREEN: What’s 20 years to a Dinosaur? I’ve spent a fair bit of time up North and you would nearly be thankful for the politicians we have down here when you listen to some of these lunatics up there. Embittered bigots, especially the Unionists.
Mo Mowlam did all the hard work, once it looked like it could be a success Blair and Co jumped aboard to catch the plaudits.
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