* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Daily life for most Syrian refugees who have sought safety in neighbouring countries is getting tougher as the conflict drags into its fifth year. The massive numbers of refugees have put a huge pressure on governments who are struggling to provide basic services. Cutbacks in international aid assistance, due to financial constraints, also mean refugees are getting less assistance than they would at the start of the crisis. In Jordan, the European Commission supports a child cash grant programme, run by UNICEF, which is helping many families to avoid having to make some very difficult choices, as Caroline Gluck, European Commission's Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO)'s Regional Information Officer for the Middle East, reports.
The frustration felt by father of eight, Ali, originally from Aleppo, is palpable. He’s trying his best to support his family, including his 13 year-old son, Hassan, who has a severe disability. They live in a poor neighbourhood of eastern Amman and it’s a struggle.
The family, who have already moved twice since coming to Jordan, pay 170 Jordanian dinars (€214) a month in rent. They receive some cash assistance from UN agencies; but due to funding cuts, the monthly food voucher they receive from the UN World Food Programme has dropped in value – from 22 Jordanian dinars (€27) per person per month to just ten dinars (€12) per person each month. And in a few months’ time, it is likely that assistance will stop altogether.
A UNICEF cash grant, supported by the European Commission, is aimed at helping some of the most vulnerable refugee families to cover the needs and expenses of their children – from transport fees so they can go to school, to clothes and stationery. Unfortunately, it was too late to help 15-year-old Rama. She stopped going to school three years ago to help her mother with the daily chores, though three of her sisters do now go to school thanks to the cash grant. And the money doesn’t stretch enough to enable Hassan to attend regular physiotherapy at hospital with his father because of the high transport costs.
Ali is desperate and while Syrian refugees are legally barred from working in Jordan, he continues to try to find labouring work, when he can, to pay for his family’s needs. Travelling to hospital with his son also means he won’t be able to look for employment. But his efforts to work landed him in jail for a day, until his landlord bailed him out.
Despite the grim experience, and an on-going police crackdown against illegal workers, the former taxi driver says he has no option but to keep trying to look for work where he can. “I would like to work 24 hours a day so I can properly provide for my family”, he said, “but it’s very difficult to get work. You have to beg sometimes because there is no work.”
Read the full blog post Help in hard times for Syrian refugees.
