“If we knew this would happen to us we wouldn’t have brought so many children into the world.” These are the words of Rima [1] , a Syrian refugee living in Amman.
Rima is sharing two rooms with her husband, her sister-in-law and their children – 12 people in total. The family fled Syria after Ali, Rima’s husband, was released from prison. “It was as if he just disappeared, I had no idea where he was or what had happened to him. My son was only a month old when this happened so I went to stay with my family. When he was released we couldn’t risk staying and him being arrested again. Our house had been demolished and the shop burnt down. We were afraid he would be arrested again so we had to leave. We couldn’t handle the pressure,” said Rima.
The children of the family, aged between 10 and 18 months, are suffering in their new surroundings, as Rima describes. “They are frustrated. They have a lot of pent up energy. We can’t afford to send them to school – it’s far from here and the transport costs are too expensive for us. When we let them out to play people complain about the noise so they just sit inside all day. We have nothing to do.”
Ali, previously the bread winner, is finding it hard to adjust to life now that he can’t provide for his family. “I used to own two houses and I ran my own shop. It’s all been burned down and I can’t provide anything for my children. Everything I owned is gone. I can’t work because of the injuries I sustained when I was in prison. I was tortured and it’s very painful for me to walk. I feel very bad about our current situation. We don’t have enough for everyone. Things are very expensive here, the rent is very high. CARE helped us to pay some of our rent because we owed the landlord money but we still can’t even afford to get the basics.”
This family is living day by day and Rima states that: “We want to go home. We don’t mind living in a tent if we are in Syria and it is safe.” For now it isn’t safe and this family, and thousands more, have to deal with the reality of a life as a refugee and hardship is brings.
[1] The names Ali and Rima have been changed.
ABOUT CARE: Founded in 1945, CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty and providing lifesaving assistance in emergencies. CARE places special focus on working alongside poor girls and women because, equipped with the proper resources, they have the power to help lift whole families and entire communities out of poverty.