A refugee mother's to-do list
Today is World Refugee Day and we’ll be sharing with you the experiences of several refugee mothers drawn from the places we work.
For most mothers, daily life revolves around the items on each day’s to-do list: heading to work, helping with homework, cooking, getting the children to bed etc. In some ways, daily life for a refugee mother is similar; they do many of the same things for their own families. But doing those things looks entirely different for a mother whose family has been forced from their home by war.
#1 Shower and get ready for the day
Pictured: Marian shows us their shared bathroom at the refugee settlement in northern Iraq.
“Our 'home' doesn’t have a bathroom, so I pack my things and go outside to wait to shower. It’s not feasible to shower every day, and we often wear the same clothes we slept in. There’s little privacy. It makes me nervous, both for myself and my 11-year-old daughter Marian,” says her mum. Marian says sharing is challenging. “When we take a shower, it’s crowded. People keep knocking at the door.” Here, 700 people live in bathroom-less trailers. Many do not have refrigerators and everyone has to cook outside. For 118 families, there are only sixteen bathrooms.
#2 Drop my son off at school
Pictured: Syrian refugee teacher Nour teaches the youngest students at the education centre. She worked as a teacher in Syria for two years before she was forced to flee with her own children.
“In our clustered areas of tents, there is an early education centre. It’s run by one of the aid groups working here and it helps children to get ready for school. As Syrian refugees, if the children aren’t enrolled in these schools, they won’t be ready to transition into the Lebanese public school system and will then get left behind. I’m protective of my son Omar. He always wants to play but I don’t know how much freedom I should give him to play around the camp on his own. I want to keep his safe and this place is very different from the structure and security of our home in Syria,” says Omar’s mum in Lebanon.
#3 Take the kids to work
Pictured: Four-year-old Saad shovels brick dust.
“Our family isn’t able to send any of our children to school. Instead, we make concrete blocks for a living. For every 100 blocks we make, we earn £5.70. Unfortunately, if we don’t work, we can’t pay the rent. My 12-year-old Jomaa misses school so much. He says he’s forgotten what he’s learned. My other son, four-year-old Saad should be at school, not shovelling brick dust. We don’t have a choice. The other day, we put out an old toy fire engine on the ground and Saad was confused. He’d forgotten how to play,” says Jamal’s mum in Lebanon.
#4 Take my son to the doctor
Pictured: Dr. Mussaid, 27, experienced bombing first-hand when a rocket destroyed the hospital he worked in.
“It takes us two buses to get to the physiotherapist. Sometimes when I can’t afford bus fares, I have to walk and carry Jamal. The doctors at the clinic are nice to Jamal and help to treat his injured foot, but it’s hard to afford the treatment as it’s expensive,” says Jamal’s mum in Lebanon, where they’re currently staying as Syrian refugees.
#5 Cook the dinner
Pictured: 9-year-old Ayat helps her mother Myada prepare dinner where they live in Za'atari Refugee Camp.
“Cooking involves a lot of work for the simplest of meals that are never as good as at home. It’s heart-breaking when I have to tell the children over and over again, ‘yes, we are having potatoes for dinner again.’ It’s the one thing we can afford that will actually feed us all,” one Iraqi refugee mum told us.
#6 Tuck the children into bed
Pictured: Nine-year-old Yasmin tries to snuggle under a blanket in the corner of her family’s tent in Lebanon.
“Every evening, we pull out the bed mats and blankets that we rolled up from the morning. I tuck Yasmin into bed and say goodnight, but my children have a hard time falling asleep. My husband was killed when our farm was bombed a few months ago. My three children and I found his body. I felt so helpless to protect and comfort them because I know they can never erase what they’ve seen,” says Yasmin’s mother Khatar.
Over 60 million people worldwide have been forced to flee their homes due to war, conflict and persecution. No child should lose their future as well as their present. Every refugee child should be guaranteed an education, and not forced to work. Children deserve better.