`I just want a future for my children`
A Syrian refugee mother from Cevdetiye camp shares her wishes for 2020
Murvet is buying cumin, pepper, salt, other spices and chickpeas. It is for her family’s favourite food: falafel. She is pleased because she is able to cook food that her four children and her husband like. She also buys soap and a kitchen sponge, all using a special card called an e-voucher to pay for the shopping.
Murvet says that going to the supermarket in the camp and deciding how she will spend her assistance is important to her. The e-voucher card she is holding gives her choice and some independence — something that refugees appreciate.
WFP, in partnership with Turkish Red Crescent, continues its assistance to refugees in camps across the southeast of Turkey. Until November 2019, the monthly e-voucher amount was TRY 50 (US$ 8.6) per person with which card holders could buy food in participating shops. The Turkish Government provided an additional TRY 50 on a separate card for food and non-food items.
As of December 2019, WFP is providing the full transfer amount of TRY 100 in camps. TRY 80 is to cover food needs and the remaining TRY 20 is for other items.
Murvet welcomes this change with a smile on her face: “Having one card to use for food and non-food needs is practical; now I can buy food and dish soap with the same card.”
Murvet and her family have lived in Cevdetiye camp in Osmaniye since late 2012. In the first six months after they arrived, some aid agencies provided food in the camp. They were pleased that they had something to eat; however, the hall where they ate was very crowded and they had to wait for every meal. Tevfik has stomach issues and high blood pressure. So the food they were seerved was not always suitable
Murvet remembers when they first received food assistance from WFP, through an electronic food card: “I was so happy that I was able to buy food that my children love and I could cook with my husband’s sensitive health in mind. Also, we no longer had to wait in line to eat our dinner.”
Thanks to the e-vouchers, households have an acceptable, more varied diet. The women are involved just as much as men in deciding how to use the assistance. Currently, almost 13,000 people live in Cevdetiye camp. All benefit from the e-voucher system.
Fleeing from the nearly 9-year-old conflict
Murvet, 41, comes from Rabia, a town located north of Latakia, in Syria. When they lived there, she made money producing fabric and her husband Tevfik was a farmer. They had a happy and prosperous life until the conflict started. “The police station opposite of our house came under fire. We were caught in the bombings. My children were afraid, we could not risk staying in Syria any longer”.
So, in August 2012, Murvet, Tevfik and their four children headed for the border near Turkey’s southern Hatay province. Since there were police stops everywhere, they could not take any proper luggage, belongings or even enough money with them. They stayed in a camp for a few weeks and with the guidance of camp representatives, moved to a little further north, to Cevdetiye camp in Osmaniye.
New Year wishes for the children
One of Murvet’s four children; Omer (23) has Down Syndrome. He helps family with daily chores. Mohammed (21) works and studies in Istanbul, while Fatma Zehra (15) and Ibrahim (14) go to school in the camp.
As the New Year approaches, she has only one wish: “A life. Not for myself but for my children. I want to see them get proper education and have a future. I want to see Mohammed wearing his graduation cap. Fatma wants to be a psycho-social counsellor, Ibrahim is so good at learning foreign languages. I would like to see them building lives of their own.”
Murvet and her family are among almost 55,000 refugees who receive e-voucher assistance from WFP in six camps across the southeast of Turkey. It is possible thanks to generous contributions from Germany, Japan, Norway, the Republic of Korea and USAID.
