DISPLACED from their homes, leaving families behind and carrying painful memories of a war-stricken country, Syrian refugees in Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan have been striving to make the best of an intolerable existence. Self sufficient families who had relied on God first, and then on small businesses, farm lands, or the skill of their women in cooking, sewing, cosmetic arts, or teaching for their sustenance and financial independence are now living in flimsy tents. They have been abruptly pushed onto the recipient side of aid, charities, and the generosity (or lack thereof) of the world community. By many estimations, Zaatari is the world's second-largest refugee camp, behind Dadaab in eastern Kenya. Women have been hit hard by the violent rampage of the Syrian government's forces. According to the United Nations, 8,693 women have been killed, 4,300 raped, and 40,300 are being held captive in Syria's prisons, and those are only the cases that have been reported and documented. All the while, the international community is still contemplating how to get around to ousting Bashar Al-Assad and bringing in humanitarian and medical aid and protective forces. Regardless of the dreadful situation they find themselves in at the Zaatari refugee camp, many Syrian women are regaining hope where there appears to be none and are creating for themselves and their new communities a more livable and contented environment. Innovative Syrians have opened fruit and vegetable stalls, small shops where they sell toys, clothes, and food, a bicycle shop, an entertainment corner where kids can play games. Other Syrian women have planted small gardens just outside their bland, white tents. The educated women among them are teaching children. One woman, Ruwaida Abu Zaid, was interviewed by the CNN for opening a wedding salon for women inside the Zaatari refugee camp. She sells wedding dresses and offers services for young women, such as make-up, hair dressing, facials, skin brushing, and more. Some young women have accepted their fate to be married and to start the marital partnership in a refugee camp; bleak as it is, they too deserve to be happy and to look glamorous, even if it is only for one night. Ruwaida has been at the camp for a year and a half, she fled the village of Daraa with her husband and two children. She was unable to bring much of her personal possessions or belongings, but she brought her determination, ingenuity, resourcefulness, and a positive attitude despite the desolate situation that she is in. She borrowed some money to purchase wedding dresses, gowns, and cosmetics and she opened the shop, which she called Alma wedding salon for ladies. “Due to the complex circumstances, many young women are getting married here at the camp. I wanted to help give these young brides at least a remote semblance of normalcy, of a celebration, and a white gown to wear to the ceremony,” Ruwaida told the CNN reporter. Some women come to the salon in search of a dress to wear; others come in looking for a safe place to tell their stories and release a bit of the weight of their aching burdens that they carry in their chests. “There are sad realities masked behind the happy occasions. The problem is that many of the brides are very young. Girls are being married off at a very young age because their parents are in constant fear of the threat of rape, sexual harassment and assault; these incidents are not rare in the camps. Marriage to a strong, young man is a means to protect these girls from possibly lurking assailants,” said Ruwaida. Parents who feel that they are unable to safeguard their daughters are marrying their girls off to protect them. In a culture where conserving honor is crucial, many say they had no choice. Najwa, 14, is the youngest of three sisters who were recently married at the Zaatari camp. Their mother said: “I was unable to sleep out of fear for the girls. At night we are scared to go even to the bathrooms; there is no light and they are pitched black. I swear to God, I would not have let her get married this young if we were still in a safe Syria.”
