Winter renews the suffering of thousands of families in and around Idlib
Searching for lost warmth in camps for displaced people in northern Syria
The children of the "Abu Hussein" family enjoy getting some warmth despite the risks.
AFP
Kafr Arouq camp, which is surrounded by the cold winter.
AFP
Umm Muhammad cooks on wood in the open air.
AFP
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Inside a camp for the displaced in northwestern Syria, Umm Raghad is unable to provide winter clothes or any means to warm her three children, who are forced every morning to search for remnants of waste and plastic to light in order to protect them from the cold.
"I wake up in the morning and I can't find my children near me, because they go out to collect nylon and waste from the streets, such as bags and shoes" in order to light them, "Um Raghad" told AFP from one of the Kafr Uruq camps in the northern countryside of Idlib.
She adds with a sting while covering her face with a woolen shawl: “I do not have the price of a heater, and I am not able to feed them like the rest of the people. The winter is very harsh for us, and the children do not have suitable clothes or shoes” to protect them from the cold winter.
renewed suffering
Each year, the winter season renews the suffering of thousands of families in and around Idlib, where three million people live, half of whom are displaced and fled other areas, as the battles progressed during the years of the conflict, which claimed the lives of nearly half a million people.
With the onset of heavy rains, the dirt roads separating the tents turn into muddy paths, from which water seeps into the tents, where the residents try to strengthen them through large stones that surround them.
Three years ago, "Um Raghad", whose husband was killed in the bombing of their house, fled to the camp, where she lives today with her three children.
Their suffering is repeated every year with the onset of winter, while she is unable to provide her family's basic necessities, such as clothes and heating.
She explains that her children bring what they collect of flammable things to her neighbor, "Um Raed", who owns a heater that she uses to prepare food and warm the children.
"The children spend their day near the heater and return to our tent to sleep at sunset," she says.
respiratory diseases
Aid organizations often provide isolation tents, blankets and clothing for displaced families, but donors are struggling to keep up with the increasing demand.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has estimated that $182 million in funding is needed to respond to the main needs of more than three million people in Syria this winter, but half of this amount is currently available, according to a statement last month.
In Umm Raed's waterproofing tent, dozens gather around a rudimentary fireplace, as it rains outside and temperatures drop.
Last year, a group of donors donated the heater to Umm Raed to help her warm her eight children, three of whom have special needs.
As she is unable to provide wood or coal to keep the fire burning, Umm Raed (45 years old) relies on what the children of her neighbors, including Umm Raghad's children, bring, including scraps, cardboard, wood and plastic materials, after an exhaustive search for hours.
"My neighbors gather to enjoy the warmth," she told AFP, adding that "her tent is crowded with about 15 people, we eat, drink and warm up together."
Last month, Doctors Without Borders, which provides support to dozens of camps in northwest Syria, warned that unsafe heating methods increase the risk of respiratory diseases and complications from smoke inhalation.
And she stated, "Respiratory diseases are always among the first three diseases reported in our facilities in northwest Syria."
Every year, a number of people and children die as a result of fires that break out in the canvas tents, with the use of unsafe heating methods.
Smolder
Nine years ago, "Um Muhammad" was displaced with her three children from the city of Aleppo to Idlib, only to suffer recurring annually in the provision of heating facilities in several random camps that she moved between.
Although she is lucky to have a fireplace, her inability to bring firewood makes her dependent on olive branches that have not completely dried out, and which emit thick smoke that makes her cough repeatedly.
"Olive leaf has a strong smell and smoke," she says.
I had a pain in my chest yesterday and couldn't see a doctor,” because she couldn't afford it.
A few meters away, “Abu Hussein,” 40, watches a group of children gathered around a fire burning plastic bags and some firewood.
"When we set a fire inside the tent and there is a crowd of children in it, the smoke may cause suffocation," he told AFP.
Four years ago, “Abu Hussein” was displaced with his family from Hama Governorate, and every winter he says that the situation gets worse, and he can hardly buy olive wood for heating or medicines for his children who suffer from colds and respiratory diseases due to the frost.
He explains that "the price of the lowest medicine is between 50 and 60 Turkish liras, and here I have no work and we do not receive aid."
The man does his best to prevent rainwater from seeping into his tent.
He explains, "Sometimes we stay up all night to put nylon bags to block the rain from leaking to the children."
• With the onset of heavy rains, the dirt roads separating the tents turn into muddy corridors, from which water seeps into the tents, where the residents try to strengthen them through large stones that surround them.
• Four years ago, "Abu Hussein" was displaced with his family from Hama Governorate, and every winter he says that the situation gets worse, and he can hardly buy olive wood for heating or medicines for his children who suffer from colds and respiratory diseases as a result of the frost.
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