Ramadan Away from Home: The Table is Set, But Hunger Remains for Displaced Syrian Mothers 14 Years on

Nadhim still remembers a time, before the war, when Ramadan was her favorite season of the year. It was a time of tradition, passing down recipes to her daughters and sitting at a table that never felt empty.

“We used to prepare meals with love and care. Now, we can barely find enough to eat. We lived a simple life, bought simple clothes, but we were comfortable. We didn’t know this kind of pain.”

She has been displaced more times than she can count, forced to flee as bombs rained around her.

Now paralyzed and confined to a tent, she relies on food assistance while pondering how to rebuild her life at her age, as Syria enters a new chapter.

“Ramadan was once a time of warmth and gathering. Now, it only reminds me of my destroyed home. My family is scattered everywhere, and I live here alone with my son.”

Up to 1.1 million people were internally displaced following the fall of the former regime, magnifying humanitarian needs in a country that was already on the brink.

By mid-February, over 600,000 of them have returned to their communities, as well as 270,000 from abroad.

Fatima is another Syrian woman who has been living in displacement for six years. She has watched her children grow up knowing only hardship, their childhoods lost to war with no schools to attend.

She has fond memories of Ramadan, preparing meals as her children eagerly set the table.

“I used to tell my children stories while we cooked, making all kinds of sweets. They loved it,” she recalls. “Now, my eldest son struggles to find work, and rising food prices weigh heavily on my family.”

Wafdia shares the same sense of worry as Ramadan arrives. Widowed and raising her five children alone, she takes on every role: provider, protector, caretaker. Her mornings begin before dawn, not to prepare meals, but to collect firewood before her children wake up.

“I tell myself, ‘Tomorrow will be better,’ but with each passing Ramadan, it gets harder,” she explains. “Even if all I have is bulgur [wheat], I set the table nicely so my children can still feel the spirit of Ramadan.”

“Eid is meant to be for children, but how can they celebrate when they have nothing? My youngest daughter once asked for a dress like the one she saw on another child. I couldn’t buy it. She cried herself to sleep.”

At the start of the year, 12.9 million people in Syria were food-insecure, including 3 million severely so. Without urgent funding to aid in Syria’s reconstruction, essential services in the most affected communities will collapse, leaving vulnerable families to suffer.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and its partners continue to provide relief, reaching over 317,000 people with essential items, winter supplies, water, hygiene and sanitation (WASH) services, cash and protection assistance.

However, needs are overwhelming. With funding at its lowest since the start of the conflict, the humanitarian response is stretched to its limits.

“I dream of going home, but my house is in ruins. I pray someone will help us rebuild, so I can spend next Ramadan in a real home, not a tent,” says Fatima.

Hopefully next year, Fatima, Nadhim, Wafdia and their children can mark Ramadan in a better way, creating the fond memories they deserve.

IOM’s humanitarian response in Syria is currently made possible with the financial support of the Government of Kuwait, Government of the Netherlands and Syria Cross-border Humanitarian Fund (SCHF).

Written by Sarah Al-Jameel, IOM Senior Public Information Assistant 

*SOURCE: the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Go to ORIGINAL: https://storyteller.iom.int/stories/ramadan-away-home-table-set-hunger-remains-displaced-syrian-mothers-14-years

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