By Fatima Khaled
RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – On a daily basis, Khatoun al-Hindi bathes her children using cold water in an effort to alleviate the impact of the hot weather and scorching temperatures and to help them cool down.
The 35-year-old woman, who resides in al-Maqas makeshift camp in the south of Raqqa, is enduring harsh living conditions amid intense heat wave striking the region.
“Our hardships persist throughout the year but our suffering increases in the summer due to the extreme heat,” al-Hindi told North Press.
Al-Hindi could not protect her children from heat-related illnesses since they suffer from a continuous high temperature, fever and diarrhea.
“Heat-based diseases have increased, such as allergies, leishmaniasis, and diarrhea due to sunstrokes, recently, Maltese has emerged, causing high fever and other symptoms,” she added.
The region’s severe heat wave in July has made life even more challenging for al-Hindi and other IDPs. They already face difficult living circumstances, and now they are struggling to pay for vital medical care, medicine, and tests due to the high cost.
Additionally, the medical field in the camp suffers from a lack of adequate support, which further compounds their difficulties.
The al-Maqas camp houses 260 families, the majority of whom originate from Deir ez-Zor Governorate, from areas under the control of the Syrian government forces and Iranian-backed militias.
In a nearby tent, Nisrin al-Ali, 19, was struggling with disease brought on by the soaring heat. She had recently given birth to her daughter and was already suffering from a fever.
Al-Ali was unable to move due to the fever she contracted after giving birth, which coincided with the onset of the intense heat waves that grew more severe by the day. Unfortunately, her baby also contracted the fever.
She stayed in bed for over ten days, trying various medications to alleviate her illness. However, her weak immunity made it difficult for her to recover quickly.
Like many other IDPs in the camp, al-Ali sprinkles water on her tent in an attempt to cool it down, hoping to alleviate the high temperatures.
“We eagerly wait for the sunset to give our bodies a little rest from the exhausting heat,” she said.
Most of the IDPs living in the makeshift camps in Raqqa work in the nearby farmlands to secure their daily needs. However, working under the scorching summer sun has only increased their suffering.
To secure his family’s daily expenses, Khaled al-Mustafa,19, is forced to work for long hours in collecting summer vegetables in the nearby farmlands, which caused him to suffer from sunstroke.”
“I had to stay for long hours in the sun, as I used to every year, but this summer was scorching and the temperatures were unusual, which exposed me to many diseases.”
Several cases of skin diseases spread in the camp, such as allergies, scabies, and leishmaniasis in addition to some cases of poisoning caused by hot drinking water. High temperatures aggravated these cases even more.
Makeshift camps in Raqqa lack medical centers that provide health care and free medicine in addition to the lack of support from relevant international organizations.
The IDPs experience difficult times as a result of the withdrawal of humanitarian organizations and lack of assistance amid repeated demands from the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) to support them.
Lack of job opportunities and the devaluation of the Syrian pound exacerbated the suffering of the IDPs, as prices increased and the majority of the Syrian families lost their purchasing power after the value of the US dollar reached 13,000 SYP.