This Is What A Refugee Mom’s To-Do List Looks Like

Going to work means taking your four-year-old with you, because there's no school for him to go to.
|

For millions of Syrian refugees, what used to be simple tasks back home -- such as doing laundry or cooking dinner -- have become complicated, time-consuming burdens in refugee camps and informal settlements they now live in.

In Lebanon, for instance, there are more than 1 million Syrian refugees, and displaced families there are living in dire conditions.

Nearly 70 percent of Syrian refugees in Lebanon live below the “extreme” poverty line, according to the UN, and over half of them reside in insecure dwellings, without adequate access to food, education or health care.

Nonprofit World Vision spoke with refugee mothers living in informal settlements in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, and uncovered the daily struggles they go through just to feed, bathe and clothe their children every day.

This is what a mom's to-do list looks like when she's a refugee:

World Vision shared the following stories with The Huffington Post. They have been edited for style, length and clarity. 

 

1. Go To Work -- But Bring Your Kids With You

Open Image Modal
World Vision

Hamida brings her sons, Saad, age 4, and Jomaa, age 12, to work every day. They work alongside her, making and stacking bricks, earning 8 cents per brick.

In the settlement they live in, there is no school -- but even if there were one, they couldn't go, because the family can’t afford to miss out on their income.

Around one in ten Syrian refugee children across the region is engaged in child labor, according to the UN. In Lebanon, recent reports have found children working in “slave-like” conditions.

 

2. Take Kids To Doctor -- And Take Two Buses To Get There

Open Image Modal
Haisha with her mother-in-law Fatima, and two of her four children. Her son Jamal (in the blue striped sweater) has an injured foot.
World Vision

Haisha regularly has to bring her son Jamal, age 3, to the physiotherapist due to a foot injury. Getting there is a harrowing task: She has to take two buses, and if she doesn’t have bus fare, she walks, carrying Jamal in her arms.

The doctor visits are helping, but they're tough for her to afford. She has to provide for her mother-in-law and four kids, as her husband is still missing in Syria.

Providing healthcare to displaced Syrians is a challenge due to the lack of aid funding, according to Reuters. Doctors in Lebanon have had to make tough choices, such as choosing whether to treat patients with acute cancer or mothers delivering babies, according to the UN.  

3. Do Laundry -- But First Build A Fire To Boil The Water

Open Image Modal
Woman preparing a pot of boiling water for laundry, in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon.
World Vision

For families living in the Bekaa Valley, laundry is a complicated task, as they don’t have access to washers or dryers. First they have to build a fire, then they have to retrieve water from the common tank and boil it. Then they soak and scrub the clothes, finally hanging them out to dry.

If the sun is out, the clothes may dry in a day -- but if it’s raining or snowing, they have to be hung inside, and they can stay moist for a long time.

The 1.1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon -- around one in five people in the country -- have put local infrastructure under stress when it comes to water and sanitation. A 2015 report from REACH and UNHCR found that refugees’ primary health concerns were linked to difficulties accessing safe water and sanitation.

 

4. Cook Dinner -- Even If All You Can Afford Are Potatoes

Open Image Modal
Woman cooking over an open fire, in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon.
World Vision

For many families in the Bekaa Valley, potatoes are all they can afford for dinner. It can take an entire afternoon to prepare a simple meal of boiled potatoes, as residents don’t have stoves in their homes. They have to peel the potatoes, cut them up, gather wood, and cook the potatoes over an open fire.

For some families, the process is slightly easier as they share a single burner with other families, taking turns to prepare their meals.

Refugees in Lebanon are facing a food crisis, according to the International Business Times. The situation has worsened since last year, and Syrians are finding it hard to meet their most basic nutritional needs, according to the UN.

 

5. Put Kids To Bed -- And Rock Them Through Their Nightmares

Open Image Modal
A child refugee lying on a makeshift bed in her home in the Bekaa Valley.
World Vision

For Sana, getting her three kids to sleep every night is a struggle. They will doze off, but often won’t sleep through the night, because of their nightmares.

Sana’s husband was killed when their farm was bombed in Syria. She and her kids found his body. Her children have had trouble sleeping ever since.

Almost half a million people have died since the start of the Syrian war in 2011, according to the Syrian Center for Policy Research. Life expectancy dropped from 70.5 years in 2010 to an estimated 55.4 years in 2015.

Before You Go

Child Refugees Stage Their Stories
"Child Labor": Anjar Refugee Camp, Lebanon(01 of08)
Open Image Modal
In this image, 12-year-old Bassam, 11-year-old Tamer, 16-year-old Lubna and 11-year-old Farah act out different jobs at the refugee camp. Many Syrian children in Lebanon's Anjar refugee camp are forced to work to help support their families.

Bassam and Tamer started selling tissues after their father was injured during a shelling blitz in Syria. The brothers often work 12 hours and earn about $3 a day, and have faced abuse while on the job.

Farah weeds and clears land for sowing to support her family of 10. In this photo, she and Lubna pose as factory workers peeling oranges to make tinned fruit. These laborers often work 11-hour days for as little as $8 a day.

"What makes me very tired is that I have to keep bending down. When we try and stand up, they ask us to bend down," she said. "We spend the whole day like this. The money they give us is not enough."

Many of these working children are also forced to miss out on educational opportunities in order to work.

"Education is very important. I feel it is especially important for girls. When girls get education, they are respected in society," said Lubna. "Some girls even have jobs in factories. They shouldn't be working -- they should be studying."
(credit:Patrick Willocq/ Save The Children)
"Education": Bekaa Valley, Lebanon(02 of08)
Open Image Modal
Hatem, 15, has been living in a refugee camp in Lebanon for four years. He saw his school get hit in an airstrike in Syria and fled, fearing his house would be targeted.

Hatem says he is "sad and scared" about his destiny. He was enrolled in school for two years, but had to stop because his family couldn't afford to continue funding his education. He loved going to school -- his favorite subjects were math, English and Arabic. The teenager had planned to go to university and join the army, but those dreams are now gone.

"Because I am working now and I have been off school for three years, I have missed a lot of studying and won't be able to fill the gap," Hatem said. He now sells clothes at a marketplace and practices dabke, a modern Arab folk circle dance, to keep himself busy.
(credit:Patrick Willocq/ Save The Children)
"Doctor Malaria": Nyarugusu Camp, Tanzania(03 of08)
Open Image Modal
Anicet, 10, fled Burundi with his grandparents almost a year ago, and currently attends a temporary learning space run by Save the Children in Tanzania's Nyarugusu refugee camp. Malaria is one of the camp's greatest killers.

When Anicet grows up, he wants to be a malaria doctor. In this image, he practices his dream job while his friends act as patients and mosquitoes.

"I want to be a doctor so that I can help people, make a difference and save lives," said Anicet. "This would make me a very important person and it would help me get something in my life."
(credit:Patrick Willocq/Save The Children)
"Firewood Collection": Nyarugusu Camp, Tanzania(04 of08)
Open Image Modal
Many young girls and children are sent to collect firewood in the forest surrounding Nyarugusu refugee camp so their families can cook the food they receive.

Women and children who venture into the woods face many dangers, including assault.

Here, Esperanse, 15, shows what it is like for young girls and women to search for firewood in the forest surrounding the camp. She herself narrowly escaped an assault from three men.

"There are a lot of dangers that come when we go looking for firewood. ” says Esperanse. "We can get snakebites, or even encounter men who want to abuse us. Even if we’re able to escape and run away, we have to throw down all our firewood and we lose what we came for."

"My wish for the future is to have a place where I can live peacefully, a place where I can feel established, where I can feel that I'm at home, without all of these other problems," she added.
(credit:Patrick Willocq/ Save The Children)
"The Mountain Journey": Nyarugusu Camp, Tanzania(05 of08)
Open Image Modal
Children in Tanzania's Nyarugusu refugee camp re-enact crossing the mountains of Burundi on foot to seek refuge. Iveye, 6, is pictured on the far left carrying her 18-month-old sister, Rebecca, on her back.

It took the siblings and their family five days to travel from their home to Tanzania, and the journey was far from easy.

"When we reached the [Burundi-Tanzania] border, the police on the Burundian side would not let me cross into Tanzania with my daughters," the girls' father, Pierre, said. "So I separated from them and snuck across the border using a secret path. When I had safely reached the other side, I came out and signaled to Iveye and her sisters."

"When they saw me, they ran across the border right under the gaze of the policemen who could do nothing to stop them," he added.
(credit:Patrick Willocq/Save The Children)
"Our Dream": Bekaa Valley, Lebanon(06 of08)
Open Image Modal
Samira, 10, sitting, and Zeina, 11, standing, are best friends. Samira would like to be an actress and Zeina an artist.

Both girls left Syria with their families to escape the violence. The house next to Samira's was shelled, killing the family next door.

Now the girls live in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. "In Syria, when we got snow or wind, it was OK," Samira said. "But here, when the wind blows, we get a bit scared, as we're afraid the tent will get blown away."
(credit:Patrick Willocq/ Save The Children)
"What Happened (The Past)": Bekaa Valley, Lebanon(07 of08)
Open Image Modal
Walaa, 11, left Syria with her pregnant mother because bombs had blown up the hospitals, schools and supermarkets in their area. They had no access food, water or health services.

When she was walking home one day, Walaa saw her school explode. This picture uses Walaa's original drawing to depict the moment her school was bombed.
(credit:Patrick Willocq/ Save The Children)
"CFS, An Oasis": Nyarugusu Camp, Tanzania(08 of08)
Open Image Modal
Here, children in Nyarugusu refugee camp show the different ways they play and express themselves in the camp's "Child Friendly Space," known as CFS. For many kids, CFS is an oasis and cocoon of safety where they can socialize with each other.

Fifteen-year-old Jacob, center, dreams of becoming a professional dancer. When he realized that he and his family had to flee Burundi, he performed dance routines in his local town market until he earned enough money to pay for his and his grandparents' transport to cross into Tanzania.

"I feel good about myself when I dance," said Jacob. "I feel that dancing will help me achieve my goals in life."
(credit:Patrick Willocq/ Save The Children)