Thirty-seven-year-old Mariam* lost her husband during the war in Syria in the first clashes in Idlib in 2012. A few young men, along with her husband, died in their village.
Mariam has three children – Zaid is nine, Zeinab is eight and Moussa is six years old. The family have been displaced eight times, before arriving to this camp in Al-Aliyah. They have been living in the camp for six months.
She explains that when they lived in Idlib, they did not own a house. Her husband worked as a guard in a farm and they lived in a one-bedroom apartment owned by her husband’s employer, the owner of the farm.
“Torment follows me wherever I go. This tent is worse than any place we have had to live in. There are no men to protect us from the darkness of the night. My children, my sister-in-law and I are on our own here,” she says. Her children and her have no resources and no one to offer them assistance in the small tent, where they live.
She is now working in the farms. She leaves at sunrise, leaving behind Zeinab and Zaid to guard the tent, prepare food for themselves and look after their little brother, Moussa. She comes back at sunset with almost three dollars for a whole days’ work.
Not many organisations target this camp to provide food assistance. The organisations that do arrive at the camp usually come to assess the needs, but residents complain that none of their needs have been addressed.
Mariam says her family urgently need food baskets, tents that are more resistant to rain and snow, and cleaning products. Her children have to walk two kilometres to go to school and need warm winter clothing to protect them during the cold months.
Her family also fears the long walks in the dark between the camp and any other populated areas, as well as the fact that there are many dangerous reptiles, such as snakes and scorpions.
The latrines they used to use were a collection of paved stones or pieces of worn out cloth that terrified them and their children. They would usually take a companion along as an extra protection measure.
However, the new latrines built by Engineer Omar have had a big impact. Children now feel safe to go to the toilet alone without a companion. The new lights have also provided safety, since residents can now look out for harmful reptiles.
Despite these small improvements, Mariam pleaded for the community to respond to the urgent needs of children and find ways to secure their schooling, especially those who have become orphaned due to the conflict. Moussa, her youngest, added spontaneously, “we also miss watching cartoons.”
CARE's programs in Syria are partly funded by the European Union Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid.
*Names have been changed to protect the identity of individuals in this story.
For more on our work in Syria, click here.