Provide Relief for Syrian Refugees

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  In Jordan's Zaatari Village, the school for girls used to be overcrowded with both Jordanian and Syrian refugee students. Community leaders worked with Mercy Corps to come up with a solution. Photo: Georg Schaumberger for Mercy Corps

In a small village in north Jordan, Syrian and Jordanian girls sit side by side at school. Each has her very own desk and there is ample space to learn. But until recently, this situation was only a dream.

The Syrian war, which began in March 2011, forced almost four million Syrians to flee their home country. Most have found shelter in Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey or Jordan, where many have family members.

Some live in refugee camps, like nearby Zaatari camp, but most Syrian refugees live in towns or cities alongside their host community neighbors.

Since Syrians began fleeing nearly four years ago, Zaatari Village has doubled in population due to the influx of refugees. It has gone from a small town of 10,000 to one with over 20,000 people.

This drastic change has created a high demand for local services, including education. With a new, larger population, the school in Zaatari Village was unable to accommodate all of the Syrian girls who wanted to attend school.

Those who were able to attend experienced overcrowding and tension between refugees and Jordanians.

“The school was really crowded, we had to sit in crowded classrooms and everyone was very uncomfortable,” said Raghad, 15, who is Jordanian from Zaatari. “There was a lot of fighting.”

Heba is a Syrian refugee who now lives in Zaatari Village with her family and attends the local school for girls. Photo: Sumaya Agha for Mercy Corps

Heba, 18, fled Homs, Syria with her parents, two brothers and her sister, settling in Zaatari Village to wait for an end to the conflict. “When we first arrived in Jordan, it was difficult to study because of the large number of students,” she said. “We could not understand what was going on and it was impossible to participate.”

Mercy Corps has been in Zaatari Village for two years, working with local people in conflict management training. The training helps both Jordanian and Syrian community leaders resolve tensions that arise in the village.

They are taught how to identify the source of a problem, come up with an effective solution, and then develop a proposal. From there, Mercy Corps discusses the community leaders’ ideas with the local government.

The new girls' school in Zaatari Village can hold 120 more female students and gives everyone the space and tools they need to learn. Photo: Mercy Corps

The leaders saw the problem at the girls’ school and proposed a solution — building a new girls’ school that could serve 120 more female students. Mercy Corps decided to fund the construction of the school, and the Ministry of Education agreed to provide the teachers.

To make the new school their own, students worked with AptART (Awareness & Prevention Through Art) to design and paint a beautiful mural on the side of the building. Just as the community leaders had hoped, the school is making a world of difference to both Syrian and Jordanian girls living in Zaatari Village.

Heba and Raghad show a Mercy Corps team member where they painted on the school's mural. Photo: Georg Schaumberger for Mercy Corps

“Syrian students are now involved in all activities, we are treated the same as Jordanian students,” said Heba. “We are participating in everything, not just sitting.” Heba's favorite subjects in school are math, chemistry and physics. She also told us that she loves learning all languages in the new and improved school.

Raghad, who lives in the village with her parents and two brothers, understands why the new school is making such a big difference for the community. “Before, the Syrian refugees did not fit in – it was too overcrowded and there was fighting over seats,” she said.

“Now, there is a much better atmosphere. We have more space and we have good relationships, and we can all learn and participate.”

In the new school, each girls sits at her own desk and has space to learn. The improved learning conditions have greatly eased tensions between Jordanian students and Syrian refugees. Photo: Georg Schaumberger for Mercy Corps

During his recent six-day tour of the Middle East, The Prince of Wales visited the girls' school and other projects in Zaatari Village that Mercy Corps has helped community leaders build. Throughout his visit, The Prince learned about how the conflict management training is helping communities, and why this work is so important to both Syrian and Jordanian families.

With the improved girls’ school up and running, tensions between young Syrian refugees and their Jordanian classmates have eased, and the community leaders can be proud of what they’ve accomplished by working together.

With Mercy Corps’ conflict management training under their belts, the leaders of Zaatari Village are ready and willing to create more positive changes in their community.

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  Syrian refugees in Jordan are facing terrible conditions after snow, rain and wind hit the middle east last week. Photos: Mercy Corps

Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon are struggling to stay warm since a frigid winter storm hit the Middle East last week. Some areas have been blanketed with snow, while others have sustained pounding rains and strong winds.

Most refugees are living in spaces that are not designed to withstand any kind of inclement weather — fragile tents, uninsulated shelters, or buildings with no heat.

To make sure that refugee families are safe and warm, we work in the region to repair drafty shelters and give refugees the supplies they need to make it through another winter away from home.

More than 95,000 refugees are currently living in Zaatari and Azraq camps in Jordan, and the conditions over the past week have been grim.

To help them get through this unusually-brutal winter weather, we've been providing heaters and distributing coats, shoes and warm boots to children in Zaatari.

Throughout the storm, Mercy Corps staff and volunteers have been at the camps, working to help refugees as they face freezing days and cold, bitter nights. Our team in Lebanon, where many Syrian refugees live in informal tent settlements, is also helping people get through this storm safely.

“We've been hit with quite a bit of now over the past few days. The camp is very wet, cold and muddy,” said Mercy Corps’ country director Rob Maroni after visiting Zaatari. “Everyone has their clothing and blankets hanging out to dry, even though there's no way anything will dry under these overcast, cold conditions.”

The freezing temperatures are unusual for the area — it’s the first time Zaatari has received any snow since its opening nearly three years ago. Refugees have been forced to push inches of snow off their tents and huddle inside for warmth.

“One of our volunteers explained how he helped one family get a tent back up after it collapsed under the weight of snow at 10 pm with a person inside,” Maroni told us.

Mercy Corps has more than a dozen child-friendly spaces throughout the camps, designed to bring a sense of normalcy to refugees who are far from home. On most days, hundreds of children and adolescents come to play, take dance or martial arts classes, exercise at the gym, or learn computer skills.

We’ve kept these spaces open during the storm, offering a place for children and their families to come play or take shelter. Our staff and volunteers have been working to make sure that all the spaces are equipped with gas heaters and generators.

“Our facilities are open for everybody during the storm. Not just the kids,” said senior camp coordinator at Zaatari, Osama Telfah. If the weather gets worse, the Mercy Corps team is prepared to shelter refugees in these facilities, which are spread throughout the large camp.

Below are photos of the storm from the Mercy Corps team in Jordan. The photos, from both Zaatari and Azraq camps, show the hazardous conditions that refugees have faced over the past week.

Learn more about how we're helping Syrian refugees in Jordan get through the winter 

How you can help

• Stay informed. Read more stories about our work and those we are helping on our Syria crisis response page. You can also learn more about our focus on protecting Syria’s children.