Left Behind: Zaatari

    I know we said that "Left Behind" would be a Bi-weekly feature, but there are just too many refugee camps to discuss, so we decided to make this something to feature as frequently as possible. In the news, the name "Zaatari refugee camp" has appeared frequently. Due to my inquisitive nature, I decided to do some more in depth research as to what makes this refugee camp in Jordan so, for lack of a better term, special, and what I found was astounding.

  

      Zaatari is an arid space 1.274 square miles in area  located 8 miles from the Jordanian border with Syria. It is home to about 130,000 Syrian refugees, and that number gets larger every day. Started as a temporary solution to the hoard of Syrian refugees fleeing to Jordan, Zaatari has become the fourth largest "city" in Jordan. That last fact left me baffled; when looking at refugee camps, the most common situation is starvation, disease, hopelessness, and an overall negative atmosphere. The refugees that inhabit Zaatari managed to change the fate of refugees and refugee camps. The tenacity and perseverance that seems to flow from the 4.2 million gallons of donated water in the camp into the bodies of its inhabitants continues to astound me. When I read about the fact that salons, pizza delivery services, travel agencies, and other makeshift business ventures have sprung up in this camp, I felt awestruck. As I write about Zaatari, that overwhelming sense of wonder engulfs me again. How is it that these people have managed to create something, a growing makeshift metropolis, out of nothing?

Do it Yourself City

   
    There are many stories of the enterprising refugees that call Zaatari their home that have spurred me to think outside of the box and DO SOMETHING. One story that I really enjoyed reading was the one about Abdel Sattar Rifai. He was among the first group of Syrian refugees that fled to Zaatari, and he made his 12 hour journey to Zaatari on foot. Rifai has always been an enterprising man; before the war broke out in Syria, he started many different businesses. Even though his village was destroyed, his entrepreneurial spirit was not. Upon his initial arrival at Zaatari, he set up an organization of local youth that helped fetch water, set up tents, and perform other tasks for the elderly and sick. Eventually, Rifai was able to set up a profitable business, a jewelery shop, within the camp. “Customers who come to my shop are mainly women and men who are worried that they will be robbed of their cash, and therefore prefer using their savings to buy gold since it is easier to conceal,” he says. The opportunity to go out, earn money, and have a productive way to spend their time serves as a coping mechanism for many refugees living in Zaatari. Their feelings of despair, vulnerability, and listlessness are replaced with feelings of hope, pride, and determination given to them by the businesses that they run.

 Businesses like Rifai's fill the main "Sharia Souq" (market street). There are beauty parlors, wedding rentals, coffee shops, and many other enterprises. A young lady that owns her own seamstress business, Amal Hourani, told Marie Claire "I found purpose and stopped feeling sorry for myself," she says. "Now, day after day I feel stronger. I take strength from the people around me as well." The refugees living there have managed to create a sense of normalcy. Zaatari has become a home instead of a temporary location to many of its inhabitants. Weddings and other joyous occasions are a daily occurrence there, children play in the street, and the people now live with a sense of purpose.
     

What the Future Holds   

  Unfortunately, as far as Zaatari has come in its development of a city-like entity, it still has a long way to go. Rape is a frequent problem due to the communal facilities and the lack of security. Unfortunately, is rarely reported due to the cultural stigma associated with it. Also, child marriage has run rampant throughout the camp. Young girls are married off for their dowries, and crime is still a major problem. Most of Zaatari has to steal its electricity/satellite from the neighboring villages, which has caused resentment from the poor Jordanians. They blame the refugees for driving rent prices, gas prices, etc. up. Many organizations continue to supply the basic necessities to the people that live here, but as the population of Zaatari grows, seemingly exponentially, the aid is gradually being spread thinner and thinner. IHL and many organizations are working in order to ensure that the rights of the growing number of refugees in Zaatari are being protected and the tension between the locals and the refugees are dissipated. Zaatari still has a long ways to go before it becomes a sustainable "city," and hundreds of thousands of people are still depending on the donations and the charity of kindhearted people, like you, for their basic necessities. It's important that we do not stop giving to these people, lobbying for their rights, and empowering them to be able to sustain themselves in the future.

Moyo Ajepe


Sources:
-http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/05/world/middleeast/zaatari-refugee-camp-in-jordan-evolves-as-a-do-it-yourself-city.html?_r=0
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDOuSNJfGII
-http://www.marieclaire.com/politics/news/a8967/women-jordan-zaatari-refugee-camp-living-in-limbo/
-http://noorimages.com/new-lives/
-https://www.wfp.org/stories/home-away-home-building-hope-zaatari-camp
-google images