Sweltering heat, dust, lack
of electricity and at times sexual harassment were some of the hardships faced
by refugees in this UN-run desert tent camp in northern Jordan.
Those who fled atrocities
at home said they would rather return to Syria than be humiliated in the
sprawling compound, as their trials came to a head Monday when a group of
Syrians clashed with security guards who prevented them leaving.
"My eyes and nose
hurt, my throat aches from the dust and heat. My mother suffers from pneumonia
and all of us are sick with allergies," said 14-year-old Ziad Yunis, one
of some 6,000 Syrian refugees housed in the camp near the border.
"My father is still in
Daraa. I wish I could go back there to hug him instead of this
humiliation," the teenager told AFP as he paced back and forth.
Nearby, four-year-old Omar
cried as his mother stripped him naked to bathe him outside their tent.
"Please, mom, let's go to a bathroom, I don't want to be seen naked,"
he insisted, as other children laughed at him.
But his mother could not
help. "What I can do for you? This is what we have," she told him.
As the "Iftar"
meal which breaks the dawn-to-dusk Muslim fast of Ramadan neared, scores of
refugees lined up to receive their meals from a UN refugee agency truck.
"If you don't stick to
your turn and stop shouting, you will get nothing," a UN employee snapped
at a man who complained about the long queue and demanded a quick handout.
A woman considered herself
lucky.
"Thank God, this time,
I only waited half an hour," said Fatima Subeihi, 38, carrying a plastic
bag containing bread, bottle of soft drink and water, cheese and jam.
It is not easy to fast more
than 15 hours a day in this desert area during the month-long Ramadan, as
average temperatures in the summer soar to 40 degrees Celsius.
"You don't know how it
feels. The worst thing is dust, and the tents are not good enough to protect
us," said the mother of six, covering her mouth with a white mask.
The authorities started to
transfer some of the country's 150,000 Syrian refugees to the
seven-square-kilometer Zaatari camp in July. The UN said the camp, outside the
city of Mafraq, can take up to 120,000 people.
"This is a large
prison. We are not animals, and even animals would not accept to live here,
this way," said 50-year-old Mohammad, refusing to give his full name.
Jordanian anti-riot police
were called in on Monday to quell a protest by angry Syrians as they clashed
with guards when they tried to leave the facility in protest at poor living
conditions.
A father of four covered
his head with a piece of white cloth but dust invaded his face, including his
eyelashes, as he queued up to receive relief items.
"There's no
electricity, no water, no phones. We are isolated and I cannot check on my sons
who are fighting the regime in Syria," lamented the man.
Unlike the refugee tents,
all offices of the United Nations and aid groups in the camp are linked to a
power grid.
"I do not understand
why we don't have electricity in our tents," said Subhieh, 37, adding that
UN staff and others had air-conditioned caravans.
"We cannot breathe
here and the food is bad, while we wait for three to four hours to use the
bathroom. I miss Syria," wept a mother of five, wearing a traditional black
dress that has turned into beige because of the dust.
The Jordanian government
said thousands of tents in Zaatari will soon be replaced by caravans.
"We did not escape
death and humiliation in Syria to be humiliated here. I would rather return and
die there. It's easier and faster, trust me," complained Marwan Basti, 38.
"Everything is
disorganized here. Some people get five portions of food a day while others get
nothing. We can handle this but our children cannot. We would not have fled
here if we knew all this."
He said a new group of
Syrian refugees were brought to the camp on Monday.
"When they saw the
situation, they tried to leave the camp but of course they were
prevented," he added.
Many Jordanians come and
visit each day to donate food, water and clothes to the refugees. But other
visitors cause trouble, adding more pressure on the Syrians.
"Two days ago, a
janitor tried to harass a woman when she wanted to use the toilet. One of her
male relatives beat him. Police came, took the janitor to hospital and arrested
the other man," said Khaldun Qaddah, 25, from Homs in central Syria.
"We demonstrated near
the gate of the camp to release the man. But nothing happened. This is
unfair."
Some Syrian refugees have
repeatedly complained of sexual harassment.
A grey, off-road vehicle
with Kuwaiti number plates entered the camp, just before Iftar, trying to
follow a Syrian woman in her twenties. The driver tried to give her his phone
number, as a passenger took pictures of her using his mobile.
"God damn you, you
dogs," the woman shouted at them as she carried bottles of water as well
as food.
"What can I tell you?
This is sick. We have complained to the authorities but they haven't done a
thing. God damn [Syrian President Bashar al-] Bashar who forced us to come
here," she told AFP.
Activists have said the
camp "falls short of international standards," but Jordan and the
refugee agency UNHCR said limited resources and the continuous influx of
refugees hamper their ability to deal with the crisis.
France has dispatched tons
of aid supplies and medical equipment as well as a field hospital to the camp,
while the United States, Britain, Canada and Germany have granted Jordan more
than $135 million to help it cope.
As the world's Muslims
prepare to celebrate Eid al-Fitr after Ramadan ends early next week, Syrian
refugees said there is nothing to be happy about.
"What Eid? Are you
serious?" Um Mohammed told AFP, smiling, as she washed clothes outside her
tent.
"Eid is not for us. Look around you. How can we have any joy here?
We are barely alive. Maybe we will celebrate Eid once this misery ends and
Bashar is gone," she said.http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=428065#
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