Raising a small family away from home
How the World Food Programme (WFP) is helping a young Syrian widow and her two girls make ends meet in Iraq
Sulaf Khalid Jabagji is a single mom living in Iraq. Trying to raise two young girls in a refugee camp has not been an easy feat, but with help from her mother and sister, she believes they will be okay.
The war in Syria did not spare Raqqa city, where heavy fighting flattened buildings, damaged civilian infrastructure and took thousands of innocent lives — including that of Sulaf’s husband, Anas. Leaving whatever was left of her home as well as precious memories, Sulaf crossed the Iraqi-Syrian border with her mother, daughters and sister in search of safety and stability.
New beginnings
“It was a very difficult time, losing my husband when I was just 21-years-old. I was young and alone with my little girls,” said Sulaf who is currently living in Arbat refugee camp, located in Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq. “I didn’t know what to do and my family said they were leaving the country so I followed them here.”
At first, Sulaf and her family rented a small house, but after six months and no work, they could not afford to pay the rent anymore so they moved into a refugee camp nearby.
“It was a very difficult time, losing my husband when I was 21-years-old. I was young and alone with my little girls.”
“When we first got here, it was very hot and I was afraid for my daughters. They were younger, one and two at the time,” she said. “The camp was nothing but dust and tents and it was still being constructed.”
Until construction on the camp had finished, WFP supported families living there with monthly food rations. Each ration had enough food to last a month and included wheat flour, lentils, sugar, cooking oil and bulgur wheat.
Once shops were set up in the camp, WFP started giving families electronic food cards — or e-cards—instead of food rations. Sulaf prefers this form of assistance because it gives her more freedom and control over the food she can provide to her girls. Every month, WFP loads her card with a monthly allowance that she can use to buy fresh food from the camp’s shops.
“We used to receive a monthly food ration, but once we started getting cash assistance, life got a lot better. We can get foods we want rather than cooking with the same ingredients each month. The e-card is much better,” said Sulaf while preparing a breakfast of fried eggs, cheese, olives, dates and biscuits, all of which were purchased from the supermarket.
After losing her husband and home in Syria, Sulaf is relieved to at least be settled in a safe location with her family.
“We can’t go back there now, it’s not safe and there are memories that sadden us. Here, my daughters go to school and we are being taken care of,” says Sulaf while feeding her daughter Ranya. “We prefer to stay in Iraq for now. The only real issue we have right now is the weather.”
Read more about WFP’s work in Iraq.
Written By Saif al-Tatooz with additional reporting by Cristina Graziani.
