This article first appeared in The Atlantic Post: http://www.theatlanticpost.com/middle-east/jordan-middle-east/zaatari-jordans-new-city-syrians-6160.html
By Justin Salhani
ZAATARI, Jordan – Countless tents
scattered over a plot in the northern Jordanian desert are being
replaced with caravans, as this camp built for displaced Syrians
continues to evolve into a city in its own right.
Zaatari refugee camp, located 10 km east
of the northern Jordanian city Mafraq, was opened on June 28, 2012 to
host a small portion of the thousands of refugees flowing over Syria’s
southern border due to the increasing intensity of the civil war. To
date, more than 120,000 people have been killed in the vicious conflict
and millions have become displaced. Nearly 570,000 Syrians have sought
sanctuary in Jordan.
While the number of refugees in Zaatari
is currently around 80,000 according to UNHCR officials who run the
camp, their data-keeping website puts the figure at over 117,300. Ninety
percent of the refugees hail from Daraa in southwest Syria. The figures
are unlikely to grow by much as the Jordanian government has began
limiting the number of refugees it allows across its borders to around
200-250 each day, a stark decrease from the daily thousand. The
previously uninhabited stretch of desert has grown so massive that it is
now Jordan’s fifth largest city and even appears on Google Maps.
“We are doing more planning and looking
to connect with the local government to find ways to provide services,”
said Killian Kleinschmidt, UNHCR’s senior field coordinator at Zaatari.
Kleinschmidt, a veteran in dealing with refugees from many of the
world’s hot zones over the last two decades, says that current plans for
the camp are more akin to city planning – something he is experiencing
for the first time.
One way UNHCR is trying to expand in
Zaatari involves looking into more effective ways to distribute water
and electricity. Currently, Kleinschmidt says 73 percent of the refugees
have illegally connected electricity which costs UNHCR half a million
dollars each month. Kleinschmidt and UNHCR are looking into ways to
empower the refugees so they earn their own money and can afford to pay
for such services. They are also contemplating a camp-wide plumbing
system.
“We need to do more than just keep them
alive,” said Kleinschmidt, adding that he believes by empowering
refugees they can regain some of the dignity that has been lost by
losing their homes and being forced to live off handouts. The strategy
seems to be working, says Kleinschmidt.
“People used to get angry when the
electricity collapsed,” he said about the electrical grid’s inability to
support all the illegally wired tents using electrical heaters during
colder nights. “Now they understand that a proper connection is needed.”
Kleinschmidt said that one thing UNHCR is trying to instill in the refugees in Zaatari is a sense of order.
“We are putting a frame because there is
a rejection of governance and they don’t respect administration or
rules. We bring that frame back otherwise there is chaos… [This frame
is] important for the future of Syria,” he said.
Kleinschmidt says one example of the
progress made is apparent from parents’ reaction to their children’s’
actions. “Children lost their bearings because adults used to laugh when
they’d throw stones but now the adults get angry at the kids.”
But with the progress also comes
potential problems. “The Jordanian government is nervous,” said
Kleinschmidt. The Jordanians will remember back to the civil war in
1970, in what is known as Black September, between Yasser Arafat’s
Palestinian Liberation Organization and King Hussein’s Jordanian Armed
Forces. The refugee Palestinians and Hashemite Kindgom’s forces engaged
in a ten-month conflict that killed thousands, mostly Palestinians, and
resulted in the expulsion of the PLO to Lebanon.
The situation is made all the more
worrying for the Jordanians considering developments in Syria, where a
nearly three year long war shows no signs of abating. Refugees initially
set up in Zaatari’s tents with an aim to return to Syria in the short
term but that notion has recently changed.
“At first I wanted to go back quickly
but now we know we’ll be here a long time,” said an imam called Abu
Walid from Daraa’s Sanamayn region.
Many of the refugees in Zaatari have
accepted their circumstances and started trying to make their plots of
land more homey by constructing gardens, hanging birdcages, and planting
trees outside their tents or caravans. Abu Walid’s neighbors have laid
the ground for gardens that will sprout vegetables after winter and
built large handmade fountains that will add a bit of blue to the dusty,
rock-strewn Jordanian countryside. Kleinschmidt says that 70-90 percent
of homes in Zaatari have also recently erected private toilets.
The Tareeq al-Souq (Shop Street), which has alternately been labeled the Champs Élysées of
Zaatari after Paris’s famous strip, has sprouted 685 shops that may
bring in an income of anywhere between $5,000-15,000 each month,
according to Kleinschmidt. Here residents can find a plethora of
offerings, including Syrian delicacies like the deep fried chickpea
patties called falafel, chicken or meat kabob called shawarma, or
roasted chicken. Other shops sell mobile phones, rugs, furniture, shoes,
teddy bears, and a wide collection of other accoutrements. The street
also boasts such luxuries as butchers and computer shops, where the
camp’s youth play video games.
Despite the urbanization of the area,
there will come a day when the war subsides and many Syrians decide to
return home. But some refugees who have established themselves
economically may decide not to uproot their lives once again.
“They are keen and eager to go back but
some business people might stay and contribute to Jordan’s economy,”
said Kleinschmidt. With infrastructure already in place and some
businesses established, a handful of Syrians may choose to continue
residing in Zaatari, while Jordanians in lower economic classes
potentially could vacate lots left by the returning Syrians. Even if the
Syrian war were to end there is a high chance that Zaatari, the city,
could live on.
“Syrians who directly invest in Jordan will have a positive impact,” said Kleinschmidt. “Most will go, some will stay.”
Justin Salhani is The Atlantic Post’s Lebanon Correspondent, based in Beirut.
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