Between refuge and disability, fighting the odds in Jordan’s Zaatari Camp

Having a child born with a disability requires a special level of care, especially in the child’s first years. On the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) salutes mothers like Um Yousef who are doing this in the most difficult circumstance.

Conflict, refuge, and disability define Yousef’s life. Six-year-old Yousef was not even born when the conflict in Syria erupted in 2011 pushing his family out of the country. They fled to Jordan after seven months of fierce violence in their hometown of Dara’a taking refuge in the Zaatari refugee camp.

His mother still remembers the painful details of the perilous journey out of Dara’a and into safety in Jordan.

“Our lives were turned upside down, we lost the sense of safety and security that we were used to,” says Yousef’s mother who prefers to be referred to as Um Yousef—the mother of Yousef.

“The first year was hard, especially emotionally,” she recalls. “We had to stand in line just to bathe in the communal bathrooms. Later, we were able to put together a bathroom in our tent before we were finally given a proper shelter, giving us some sort of privacy.”

Stuck between two hard choices: the flames of the war in Syria, and the muddy camp in the winter days of Jordan. “In the winter, the entire camp turns into a mud pool, making life there even more difficult than usual.”

Um Yousef worked with a humanitarian agency in the camp for the first six years until she had Yousef who was born with a disability. She had to quit to take proper care of him.

Um Yousef, like all camp residents, receives monthly food assistance from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), but she admits that she prioritizes securing Yousef’s milk. She uses what’s left to buy basic food needs for the whole family.

After spending so many years in the camp, Um Yousef has come to terms with the fact that. “We have no choice for but but to accept and adjust to the circumstances we find ourselves in. Never let hardship stop you or make you weak. We must hold on, keep moving forward, and face our new normal.”

Her biggest concern is Yousef she says: “I have considered medical-based immigration, not because I want to leave Jordan, but so that I can get him the treatment he needs.”

Um Yousef’s family, along with thousands of other Syrian refugees in Jordan, continue to receive assistance from WFP thanks to the generosity of donors.

Zaatari camp, the only home Yousef knows, has evolved from a few tents into an urban settlement of almost 80,000 people.

Syria remains one of the WFP’s biggest emergencies, and the numbers are staggering. A quarter of all refugees in the world are Syrian and they have sought safety in 130 countries.