HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – 55-year-old Haniyah Sheikho, an IDP in Washokani camp, counts contents of a monthly food basket received monthly, including eight liters of oil, ten kilos each of rice, Burgul and lentils, five kilos of chickpeas, sacks of spaghetti, two cans of paste, seven cans of canned food, and a sack of salt.
Comparing these quantities to those she used to get at the beginning of displacement to the Washokani camp west of Hasakah in 2019, she wonders about how the contents of the basket could meet need of her family of eight?
What increases burdens of Sheikho, who comes from Tel Halaf in Sere Kaniye, is that the current basket does not contain any basic needs provided for breakfast, vegetables, fruits or meat.
As a result, she is forced to buy her needs of such materials from the camp’s market.
IDPs, living in the camp, complain about lack of relief aid that is insufficient for their families in light of their dire economic conditions.
Sheikho, while covering her face with a scarf, said, “The aid has been reduced,” so it can hardly meet need of the IDPs.
Turkish military operation Peace Spring in October 2019 that was launched against Sere Kaniye and Tel Abyad displaced about 300.000 individuals.
About 2.355 families numbering 16.306 individuals reside in Washokani camp, according to the camp’s management.
Two loaves of bread
Since establishment of the camp up to 2021, IDPs used to receive “good” amounts of relief aid. Each person used to receive five loaves of bread per day, which has been reduced to just two.
Families then used to receive monthly relief aid baskets with 10 kilos of sugar, 10 kilos of bulgur, 15 kilos of rice, eight sacks of spaghetti, 8 kilos of green pea, 11 liters of oil, and a lot of items served for breakfast such as thyme, Halva, chickpeas, canned food and olives.
Families made up of less than seven members used to receive a similar basket per month, while those with more than seven used to get a double.
Since June 2021, the quantities of aid have been reduced and the mechanism by which they used to be delivered has changed too.
Families of four and less receive a basket every two months. While those of between five and eight receive a basket per month, and those of over nine members receive a basket and a half per month.
Even contents of the basket have been reduced to the half with no breakfast items provided at all.
IDPs used to sell surplus materials to buy instead vegetables and medications; however, this has been changed too.
In the same camp, 43-year-old Salma al-Awwad, an IDP from the village of Umm al-Kheir in Sere Kaniye, complains about scarcity of water, where tanks are filled with water once a day, which does not meet the IDPs’ need in light of rocketing heat of Summer.
Al-Awwad describes her condition as “bad,” adding, “Yesterday, a fire broke out and there was no water in the tanks.”
On August 5, two children lost their lives and five IDPs were wounded in a fire in the camp.
The IDPs get detergents kits once each three months, and the amounts have been reduced, according to al-Awwad.
She sometimes sells some basics in the basket to buy vegetables and others.
Amidst this dire condition, 58-year-old Fatima Ali, an IDP from the Zorava neighborhood of Sere Kaniye, signs saying, “When we were home, we did not need anything.”
Ali elaborates, saying that IDPs are forces to live in the camp and tolerate this deteriorating conditions because they cannot return to their areas.
“It is true that we are only two in the tent, but we also have food and drink needs, we do not have any supporter,” she added.
She noted, “We lost our house and we are in need of everything.”