Today, Zaatari camp turns five years old. That little boy might still live in the camp, or may have left. But there are many other children who are three, four, or even five years old, who were born in Zaatari camp and have never seen life outside what has become a city of metal sheds and improvised shops.
I am now working for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), a humanitarian organisation that has been at the front line since the establishment of the camp, currently home to around 80,000 Syrian refugees. Upon my first visit to Zaatari camp in almost four years, I noticed how, although some things have remained similar at first glance, so much has changed over the course of the camp’s five years of existence.
Previously, riots and vandalism in Zaatari camp were common. Organisations struggled with security issues, vehicles and other property underwent damage frequently. Nowadays the camp is much more organized. Complaint mechanisms have been put in place by organisations. Community representatives among the refugees are selected, and they represent their communities at regular meetings with UNHCR and the different agencies working in the camp. Life in Zaatari camp now is less idle than before, as people have opportunities to work, volunteer, and participate in trainings and activities with the different organisations, such as NRC, which, through its Youth Program, provides practical skills’ training to Syrian refugee women and men.
“My life has changed about two years ago when I was appointed as a trainer at NRC’s youth centre at the camp,” says Anwar Alayan, a Syrian refugee from Dara’a living in Zaatari camp for the past five years. “I train other Syrians on carpentry, blacksmithing, and painting. I had these skills in Syria and that is how I made a living, but NRC helped me polish these skills and provided me with the opportunity to be a trainer. I receive a small amount of money as an incentive with which I can provide for my family and have a dignified life. At first, the camp was chaotic. People were living in tents, and there were no bathrooms, only latrines. There was no privacy. Now the camp is completely different. There are many more facilities and services. There are no more tents, everyone is living in prefabs. We feel more at home now.”
It is crucial that refugees are dignified and that they live in suitable conditions. However, refugee camps are meant to be temporary. Most of us did not expect Zaatari camp to stay on for five years. This anniversary is a reminder of the wider protracted crisis in Syria, currently living its seventh year, without any solution in the horizon.
Although Zaatari camp has become as big as a city, it only hosts a fraction of the total of more than five million Syrian refugees in countries around Syria. For every ten Jordanians there is at least one Syrian refugee. Jordan, as well as other neighbouring countries, is unable to bear with the pressure that the crisis is putting on its vulnerable infrastructure and limited services without the continued support of other countries that are more developed and prosperous. Support is not limited to providing assistance to refugees in Jordan, but also providing resettlement to more Syrian refugees, so they can find the right environment to establish the good, dignified life that they dream of. But ultimately, without a political solution to the worst humanitarian conflict of recent times, the suffering of Syrian refugees will continue, and refugee camps such as Zaatari camp will be more than just temporary homes.
