By Astrid Haaland
Fifty-six year-old Zahiyeh Abed al-Aal greets us at the door. Zahiyeh and her husband, Hassan, live in a two-room mud shelter in Khan Dannoun together with their five children. The shelter has become more crowded than ever as Zahiyeh has welcomed her divorced sister and two children to stay with the family.
Zahiyeh's feelings of helplessness and despair about the family's living conditions are not difficult to grasp. The problems are manifold: When it rains, the sewage system overflows into the entrance area which is used as the kitchen; the roof is leaking; there is no shower, only a toilet outside. Ventilation and lighting are very primitive. This has been Zahiyeh's home her whole adult life. The lack of space makes it difficult for the children to study, do their homework and for the small cousins to sleep. Zahiya's two youngest children have already dropped out of the third and fourth grades.
There seems to be no way out of these miserable conditions. Both Hassan and Zahiyeh are of poor health. Hassan works occasionally as a sanitation labourer, but the salary is low and irregular. Zahiyeh suffers form diabetes and is without work.
Zahiyeh's face and eyes light up with hope when we inform her that she will benefit from the Directorate-General of the European Commission for Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) Shelter Rehabilitation Project. Her shelter will be demolished to make way for a new, more spacious one, including a kitchen, a bathroom and two more spacious rooms. The sewage problems will be solved and the new shelter will have better ventilation and proper electricity.
Implemented by UNRWA in Syria, the 2006 Shelter Rehabilitation Project is funded by ECHO through a contribution of €318,900. At least 15 families in Khan Dannoun will have their shelters reconstructed through ECHO funding of this project. The contribution will also benefit 50 families in Homs and Dare'a, whose shelters will be repaired on a self-help basis.
The total ECHO Shelter Rehabilitation Project 2006 contribution for Syria, Lebanon and Jordan amounts to €2 million.
One of the poorest refugee camps in Syria, Khan Dannoun is located some 20 kilometres south of Damascus. Established in 1950-1951, the camp is situated near the ruins of Khan Dannoun, which was built several centuries ago to give overnight accommodation to trading caravans on the ancient route between Jerusalem and Constantinople. In 1948, the ruins provided shelter for refugees from villages in northern Palestine.
Astrid Haaland (Norwegian) is Associate Project Officer - UNRWA, Syria