After 3 years, Jordan refugee camp for Syrians now a city
Only empty desert three years ago, the Middle East's largest camp for Syrian civil war refugees has grown from a town of tents into a bustling city.
The United Nations-administered camp plans water and sewage systems and a $20 million solar power plant, even ATM machines for refugee aid payments.
But behind the plans is a cold reality for the 81,000 exiles living in the Zaatari Refugee Camp: the conflict back home, now its fifth year, won't be over anytime soon.
Some deal with that reality by making the best of life in exile, like the Zaatari high school senior who studied hard in cramped quarters to win a university scholarship, or the former farmer who planted a garden because he was tired of looking at the desert.
But dozens of others leave every week to go back to Syria, saying it's better to risk death than live in limbo in a camp where jobs are few, a third of children don't attend school and thousands of young adults lack the chance to learn a trade.
"As time passes, yes, we can deal with the infrastructure," said camp boss Hovig Etyemezian, a grandson of Armenian refugees and displaced as a boy in the Lebanese civil war. However, he's "a long way from being confident" that enough is being done to save this refugee generation.
Zaatari, born out of necessity in the desert on 28 July 2012, is now the ninth-biggest city in Jordan, a stalwart US ally. Today, this tiny kingdom hosts 629,000 Syrian refugees, out of a regional total of more than 4 million. Over 100,000 live in camps in Jordan, including 20,000 in the newer Azraq refugee camp, while the rest struggle to survive in cities with UN cash and food assistance.
International agencies had to reduce aid amid severe funding shortages and further cuts were announced on Friday. Urban refugees could soon face the hard choice of moving into a camp where life is cheaper – only Azraq is taking newcomers – or returning to Syria.
On Zaatari's anniversary this past week, the transformation from tent camp to city symbolises the failure of rival world powers to negotiate an end Syria's war. But some say it's also a reminder that the shift from emergency aid to long-term solutions should have come much sooner. (AP)
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