Raqqa’s Displaced between Death by Shelling or Death by Cold

(Raqqa, Syria) – Um Mar’ey, a woman in her forties, stands amid scattered tents after washing her children’s clothes in water warmed by wood fire.

“We don’t have any blankets or covers. God only knows how we get through our days,” she says as she dries her shivering hands with an old rag.

Um Mar’ey and her children sought refuge in the Akershy camp, located about 24 kilometres east of Raqqa, after they were displaced in October 2013 from the village of Bou Jary east of the town of Sfeira in the Aleppo countryside. A wave of migration followed, primarily to the province of Raqqa due to its proximity to Sfeira and the fact that opposition forces control the province almost in its entirety. Only three military outposts, the Division 17, the 93rd Battalion, and the Tabaqa military airport remain under government control.

According to Usama Hammoud, a volunteer with the Red Crescent who has visited the camps several times, most of the displaced congregate on the outskirts of the city rather than inside it for fear of government air raids.

Around the city of Raqqa, more than 800 families settled in eleven camps, which lack the most basic necessities such as clean drinking water or a health clinic. Camp dwellers get their water and electricity from nearby communities.

According to the Relief Committee of the Raqqa Local Council, refugees in the camps live in dire conditions. Most of them rely primarily on aid, but some have taken to trading in refined fuels in the suburbs of Raqqa to make money.

The location of the camps far from urban centers makes educating children difficult, particularly in cases of multiple displacement, as is the case of eight year old Satouf al-Hasan’s family. Satouf has not yet been able to start school. At six years of age when he was supposed to start his first year of school, his family had to leave Sfeira to another town. They then moved to Raqqa where they lived in a camp next to the village of Akershy.

“I have three children. Two of them did not continue their education, and Satouf has not been able to start school yet,” said Satouf’s mother. “We don’t even have our daily bread, and we have not settled in a safe place close to any schools. These two things have prevented my children from continuing their schooling,” she added tearfully.

It is not just the economic situation and the constant movement that prevent displaced children from continuing their education. Parents fear of schools will be targeted, as was the case in September. In addition, the journey to school is usually fraught with danger as child abductions havec increased in the suburbs of Raqqa.

Abu Saleh fled with his family from the Hama suburb of Jabal al-Bal’as to Akershy in August, but he has not sent his sons Saleh and Manhal to school because it is too far from their house. “My movement has been severely restricted for a year and a half due to a snake bite on my leg, so I haven’t been able to take my children to school since we came to this village. I can’t let them go alone – I worry for their safety,” said Abu Saleh.

Despite the difficult circumstances, some children whose camps were located close to schools were able to continue their studies. Ahmad al-Dahdouh, 15, was not able to sit for his official exams due to the violence in his home town of Sfeira. He is now enrolled in the Akershy school since his family fled to Raqqa. “I thought I wouldn’t be able to go to school again,” said Ahmad with a smile.

Ahmad al-Dahdouh’s older brother, Hussein, was born with cerebral palsy. Their mother says that they are so preoccupied with securing their daily needs that they can no longer afford to get Hussein’s expensive medications. “Those who are homeless cannot buy both food and medicine,” she said.

Local organizations such as the Local Council, the Red Crescent, and the Charity Association say that they are doing all they can to help the residents of the camps on the outskirts of Raqqa, particularly Mansoura and Bou Hamad, despite their limited capacity.

“We sent out a call for help to organizations from the first days that new people began arriving from Sfeira and Sakhna, in order to avoid the situation we are in now. We were mostly ignored or given promises that did not come to pass,” said Mohammad al-Masareh, the director of the Relief Committee in the Local Council of Raqqa.

Masareh noted however that the Syrian Business Forum, a group of opposition businessmen and women, sent out assistance packages prioritized for those who live in camps, abandoned houses and shelters.

The displaced residing within the city do not fare any better. Since the opposition seized control of the city in March, aid was distributed amongst all the residents of Raqqa and not just those who had been displaced, which decreased the amount of aid received.

“In the past, we would get aid packages from all over. Now it is as if everyone forgot about us and are only focused on the camps,” said Ahmad, a displaced resident of Raqqa who fled Aleppo.

In addition to the camps and shelters, some refugees have settled in houses still under construction, making life during the harsh winter even more difficult. Mahmoud al-Hameedy fled Sfeira along with his wife and eight children in October. They are now living in an abandoned house on the outskirts of Raqqa. They covered some of the building’s windows in plastic bags to keep out some of the cold air that leaks into the house through its many openings. Behind Mahmoud’s wife stands Hasan, 5, hiding his shrapnel-injured eye whose tear ducts have been blocked.

“What can we do? We have not found a better place on the outskirts of the city. Despite the cold, it is safer here than inside the city. My children have lived through enough shelling,” said Um Hassan, in tears. “I spent the coldest days of the December storm shivering with my children under light blankets given to us by the Red Crescent, but they were hardly enough.”

Some activists in Raqqa are trying to provide alternative shelters to camps under a campaign called “Close the Camps.” It is a volunteer-run campaign that relies on donations from Syria and several neighbouring countries.

“We began equipping and restoring the abandoned Dourat al-Fourat School since the liberation of Raqqa, fixing its doors, windows, and electricity, among other things,” said Taher Maqrish, a volunteer with the campaign. “We split ourselves into two groups: one to convince the camp dwellers to move into the school, and the other one to continue the renovation.”

However, the response to the campaign was not what they expected. According to Maqrish, few families agreed to live in the equipped schools, while others refused due to fears of shelling, especially after the Ibn Toufayl School, on the outskirts of Raqqa, was shelled on September 29.

Satouf dreams of going to school, but the realization of this dream is tied to the situation of refugees and their settling in a warm, safe place removed from the bitterness of homelessness.

“I would love to go with other students to school. I see them every day on the road,” he says.