Syrian refugee turned ICMC volunteer in Jordan tells her story

The civil war in Syria has claimed more than 70,000 lives and forced many more to flee their home country. They have left their past behind and do not yet see what future lies ahead for them.

AL MAFRAQ, Jordan, 18 February 2013 (ICMC) – “My name is Noura. I am 28 years old. I used to live in Syria as a normal girl in a normal family. My two sisters, two brothers and I used to live with our mother. My father died many years ago. I have been a refugee in Jordan for eight months now. My life has been turned upside down and I don’t want to think about the past.

When I first arrived here I was depressed; I didn’t think this could happen to my family. I came in June last year, with my sister. My mother and sisters came a few weeks later. Everyday I am reminded of my old life and the sharp contrast to my new life. Not only have we turned a page, the whole book has changed.

We rent a small house in Mafraq where I live with my mother and two sisters. My brothers are in Syria; they didn’t want to leave. So we are four females living together, all of us scared and distressed. It’s not easy. My older sister finds it the most difficult: she stays home all day, complaining and feeling sorry for herself. My younger sister does the cooking; she looks after us. My mother is a strong woman, but overwhelmed by this new reality. She is sick and tries to hide this it from us. But we know and are even more worried about her.

Having to flee Homs was the most difficult thing that ever happened to me. The city was a war zone. We used to stay at home, wearing our hijabs,* scared that at any moment men would enter the house with guns, or that there would be an explosion and we would have to run. In the end it was too much to take and we fled.

We didn’t pack anything; the act of packing would have been too permanent to even contemplate. In the end, there wouldn’t have even been enough time. Anyway, we thought we would soon return home. We didn’t know what a war was, we didn’t understand how serious it was. There had never been a war in Syria before.

Last year, ICMC staff came to our home in Jordan and gave us 300 Jordanian dinars (or about 423 U.S. dollars) to pay for three months of rent until the end of December.

I wanted to work. I wanted to do something with my time and help other Syrians like us. So I volunteered to work for ICMC. I am now the only member of my family to earn an income. My 250-dinar stipend covers our rent and my transportation. But at the end of the month I only have 10 dinars (or about USD 14) to help my mother pay for our expenses.

Jordan is very expensive and we struggle to buy food. For breakfast we eat bread and olives. Dinner is normally rice and tomatoes. None of us like meat, so we don’t miss that. My mother also makes aubergines stuffed with red chilli and nuts -- that is my favourite!

I never thought I would have to stop studying to work. In Syria my mother would not have allowed me to drop out as she wanted me to focus on my studies at the art college. But now I am a refugee and don’t think about my future.”

Noura is a Syrian volunteer working for ICMC in Jordan. She is part of an outreach team identifying and interviewing vulnerable Syrian refugees. To date, Noura and ICMC’s other volunteers have interviewed more than 2,000 Syrian households, compiling a database of needs, vulnerabilities and gaps in assistance.

ICMC provides humanitarian and winterization assistance to Syrian refugees in Jordan, focusing on the extremely vulnerable households by renovating their host families’ houses and providing refugees with rental subsidies and baby packages.

In Syria, ICMC, in cooperation with Terre des Hommes Syria, helps Iraqi refugees by providing non-food item packages, community outreach, facilitated access to primary healthcare and medical devices.

In 2012, ICMC supported a total of 20,000 vulnerable Iraqi and Syrian refugees in both countries.

The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (BPRM) and European Commission, Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO) fund these two programmes.

*(head scarves particularly worn by Muslim women)

– reporting by Annika Hampson, ICMC Programme Manager in Jordan/lb

Photocredit © ICMC / Annika Hampson / February 2013

(Noura is second from the left, with other ICMC volunteers & staff)