Written by: Joelle Bassoul
Eleven men and ten women sit around a long table, exchanging greetings, chatting, wishing each other a Happy Mother’s Day, which falls today back home in Syria. It could have been like any other social gathering hadn’t the topic been so sensitive: family planning for Syrian refugees in Turkey.
The session was taking place at CARE’s Information Protection Space in Nizip, a town of about 100,000 inhabitants in Southern Turkey that currently hosts 33,000 refugees. In this new, airy, clean two levels space, where they are welcomed by CARE staff, Syrian refugees can find information about their rights, get linked to services, and get legal support. Colorful leaflets in Arabic, and posters on the walls explain the right to work, and how to get legal residency and medical aid in a simple way.
On the second floor, awareness raising sessions take place every week with ‘community activators’. These are men and women chosen from their communities to learn how to tackle issues like gender based violence, child labor, early marriage and family planning. These activators are trusted leaders of their communities and go through a meticulous selection process in order to work for CARE. They are motivated individuals who like to contribute in building their community’s capacity. Their role is to go back and share their knowledge to their communities by using different dissemination methods such as group sessions, drama sessions and individual sessions.
In their turn, the community activators will conduct peer-to-peer awareness sessions in the community. They will deliver info session in the IPS, a grass-roots accessible spaces that act as an interface between outreach activities and the community, enabling walk-in and case self-identification. and/or do home visits for peer-peer sessions using varied outreach methods specific to information being disseminated. This component is being complemented by information campaigns with associated culturally sensitive Information, Communication and Education material dissemination and explanation of this material to the community by the peer educators.
The family planning session gets quite animated. The majority here are married and have children. For a pharmacist attending the session, people should consider family planning now that they have been uprooted and lack the economic means they had back home to raise several children. For a stay at home mom, any mention of vasectomy is ‘haram’, prohibited by religion. Despite the differences in opinion, the mood is friendly, men and women chime in, and even the younger, single refugees take interest in the topic.
The room falls silent, when one participant relays the story of a woman who was pressured by her parents and in-laws to have two children in close succession, couldn’t manage their upbringing, and abandoned them to go back to Syria. Another talks about the increasing number of early marriages where 15 or 16 year-old girls hurry to have children in order to prove their place in the family and show that they are adults able to shoulder the responsibility of a child. In a country that hosts 3.5 million Syrian refugees, such stories have become daily.
“When we take back what we learn here to the community, we have to think of how we approach it. Having credibility and being respected helps to tackle sensitive issues,” says Salem al-Bakkur, 45, one of the communityactivators. He recalls a family who stopped short from marrying off their young daughter after he talked them out of it.
“Some of these refugees have been here for six years or longer. They don’t need emergency aid such as food and water anymore but rather longer term support such as the one provided in the IPS, a space were they learn about their rights and duties but also have a space of their own where they belong and get to build strong relationships with each other” says Christina Northey, CARE’s country director in Turkey.
Salem using the newly installed satisfaction survey tablet at CARE’s Protection Information Space in Nizip, Southern Turkey.
The tablet, which allows CARE to ask refugees if they are happy with the services they receive at the centre, has a simplifed use for people who can’t read.
The questions are in an audio format and the answers are included through emojis.
(Photo Credit: Joelle Bassoul / CARE)
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