Mafraq Refugee Camp, Jordan: Cradling her two-month old baby girl, tightly wrapped in a blanket, Wafa, a 28 year-old Syrian mother looks at the aid packages handed out by the UAE Red Crescent Society at her doorstep, a faint smile dances on her lips but her eyes hold a look of despair.
She along with her two sisters and in-laws crossed over from the Syrian border to Jordan after their home in Homs was destroyed by a missile attack. The family now lives in a small house located at Al Mafraq in Jordan. “I named her Atar Al Nada,” she said, looking tenderly at her little bundle of joy that was sleeping blissfully in the arms of her mother. Wafa was seven months pregnant at the time she and her family decided to flee their home and country. “My baby was born here in Jordan. From Homs we travelled to Damascus, from there to Deraa and then to Jordan. We walked, walked and walked, there were times during our journey when we had to run. We were so scared that we would be captured and killed”.
According to Wafa, members of the free Syrian army helped them in their escape. “If I am able to go home I will be happy,” she said and walked back into the small brick house along with her sisters. Umm Ayman, 47, who lives in the same neighbourhood her family, said that her two sons died of injuries they suffered during bombings in their hometown of Bab Al Amr.
“We left during the bombings. I had four sons. Two died. One is critically injured and is in the hospital while the other has gone back to Syria leaving his wife and children in my care.” Recollecting how her family escaped the bombings, Umm Ayman said: “We left our home in Baba Amr on foot. We walked for three days until we arrived in Deraa. We tried to return back home but decided against it due to the heavy bombings going on in that area. At one point, while we were trying to cross the Syrian borders, we got shot at. We were lucky to have survived.
“Today we are living with four other families in a small house and surviving on handouts given out by Red Crescent Society and various Islamic charities.”
Narrating her story, Shafah Al Talib, 25, a mother of five said she decided to leave her country and come to Jordan, the day her neighbour was brutally killed by the Shabiha (militia).
“The house that I was staying in Homs was partially destroyed by the bombings but still I continued staying over there. One day, I learnt that our neighbour got killed. His throat was cut off. I sneaked out of the house fearing for the life and that of my five young children,” said Shafah. She said she had also received threats from the pro-government militia known as Shabiha.
“They threatened me that they would kill me. I just left. My husband was not with me as he was being imprisoned for three weeks. I later learnt that he was beaten up quite badly,” said Shafah.
All three woman, with their incredible stories of escape under the shadow of gun shots and bombings are living Jordan with a hope that one day they would be able to return back home to their country Syria.
