Mohammad, a 25-year-old refugee from northern Syria, was preparing for his wedding when the war broke out in 2012. From that point on, his life as a carpenter changed and accessing basic necessites like food and water became a struggle. With his parents and siblings, they fled to Turkey, leaving his fiancée behind.
Safe in Turkey, Mohammad began to look for work. He found a job as a carpenter and began saving for a modest home. Eventually he put enough aside to invite his fiancée to be with him and to get married. Despite the leaky roof and the broken doors, Mohammad and his wife made the best of it as they shared the home with his parents and his sister’s family.
That was about five years ago and three children later. During boiling summer days and freezing winter nights, Mohammad and his family contnued to live in the house. “Our neighbours gave what they could – blankets and clothing but we were always stll cold.
The weather felt like it went straight through our bones,” says Mohammad. IOM’s shelter rehabilitaton project installed new doors and windows and insulated the roof of Mohammad’s home. Additonally, the IOM provided the families with matresses, coal, and a stove to let them and their children have a warm winter. “Right now, I am not worried about staying warm this winter. I am now focusing on the children to provide them with what I can because they are my dreams,” says Mohammad.