RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – Maha wakes up every day at first light to prepare breakfast for her husband and children before heading to work wherever she can make some money.
Ever since she left her home five years ago, this is how Maha al-Mahmoud, 24, spends her days in an IDP camp south of Raqqa, northern Syria.
Al-Maqas camp holds 260 families. The majority are from the countryside of Deir ez-Zor, which is under the control of Syrian government forces and Iranian-backed militias.
She adapts to the season’s requirements. Currently, Maha works as a daily laborer for farmers who grow summer vegetables. She has become her family’s sole breadwinner due to her husband’s illness, which left him unable to work.
The young woman found herself overwhelmed by the responsibility to provide her family, while living in “just a tent” she could hardly call a house. “We wish to return to our house. We are sick and tired of this tent,” she tells North Press.
The IDPs in al-Maqas camp suffer immensely while working in farmlands and other low-wage jobs, which cover little more than her daily expenses. The displacement is hard, she says, but “the living conditions are even harder.”
Al-Mahmoud goes to work early in the morning with a group of women and men from the camp, and returns after five or six hours, for which she earns a maximum wage of 1,000 Syrian pounds (about $0,12) per hour. During the vegetable season, however, she is able to bring some products home to feed her family.
Because of the low wage, she works five hours a day to afford their daily expenses. However, 5,000 Syrian pounds may not even buy them bread. “If there is no work, I go search in dumpsters to feed my children,” she says.
The majority of IDPs in al-Maqas camp work as daily workers to provide for their families, amid a lack of support from NGOs and relevant authorities.
The IDPs in makeshift camps go through difficult circumstances as a result of the pullout of NGOs and lack of support at a time the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) is calling to support IDPs.
The daily work is not limited to young women only. Nouriya Muhammad, 50, an IDP in the same camp, works herself to the bone to support her family.
Muhammad said that, ever since she moved from the al-Joura region in Deir ez-Zor to the camp, she works grueling hours from six in the morning until noon, and sometimes until the afternoon, in both summer and winter.
She works together with her 15-year-old son to afford the daily expenses of the family. However, in case one of them gets sick, she borrows money from her neighbors to buy medicine, as she only receives her wages every other weeks.
The scarce job opportunities and the collapse of the Syrian pound’s value against the US dollar aggravated the suffering of IDPs. Prices soared and many families lost much of their purchasing power, forcing them to save on expenses.
Men take most of the responsibility for supporting their families in the camp. Whether young or old, finding a daily job to earn some money has become a main concern for these heads of households.
Saeed al-Eid, 43, suffers from spinal disc complication, but it does not stop him from working as a daily laborer. He is inclined to work in any job that pays, even if the wage is low at times.
“We used to cultivate our lands and graze our sheep but did not feel this tired or fatigued as we do now working in the camp for the past years,” he explains to North Press.
According to al-Eid, their living conditions deteriorated due to a lack of support from international NGOs. One out of ten give aid for one month and then nothing for five months, he says.
Al-Eid works along with his wife to support his family of eight with an income of 7,000 SYP (about $0,80) per day. The smallest family in the camp spends at least 15,000 SYP ($1,72) in basic expenses every day – aside from sickness and emergencies.
The residents of al-Maqas camp will continue to try and get by with the odd job until they can go home and their suffering will end. They wait patiently until that day, tolerating the low wages and bitter circumstances. Their concern is to survive. “Low wages are better than starvation,” they say.