Reference :
V-P-SY-E-00494
Date :
11/2015
Caption :
Rural Damascus, Kessweh, shelter’s collective kitchen. Portrait of a boy and his grandmother in her small tailor workshop.
Confidentiality level :
public
Publication restrictions :
publication without restrictions
Description :
This ten-year old boy and his grandmother are amongst millions of displaced Syrians who will spend another bitter cold winter in this fifth running year of Syrian crisis. They live in a two-square meter room in an unfinished building in Kessweh, Rural Damascus, sharing this collective-shelter with 100 other people, who have similar sad stories of displacement from homes, of fear of bitter cold in winters and lack of water, food and electricity.
The mother of this boy died when he was an infant, and he has been suffering from epilepsy since early childhood. After his mother died, his father handed him to his grandmother, to whom he calls “Mama”. She used to live in a big house with a beautiful courtyard in Daraya along with her 9 children, “it was a paradise”, she says. They had to flee Daraya three years ago when fighting intensified and they moved to Kessweh.
As soon as her grandmother was placed in the collective shelter, she started working. She used to buy potatoes and cook them to sell as chips in front of schools, later she started selling bread. She describes, “I used to stand in the queue of a public bakery to buy the bread then sell it on a higher price”. She managed to save 7,000 Syrian pounds, which equals to 25 USD and bought an old manual sewing machine from her friend. She uses that to tailor clothes, and is very proud and happy that despite everything, she is working and can afford the medications for her beloved grandson.
This year, around eight million displaced people inside Syria fear another harsh winter. Most of them fled their homes with nothing but their clothes on their backs. Families are going to choose between bringing food to their children or to keep them warm; neither is affordable for most of them. The Syrians have already experienced tough winters. Last year, children froze to death in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan when a snowstorm, which lasted a week, hit the region. Since the beginning of the conflict in Syria, the ICRC, in cooperation with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent are working together to respond to the increasing needs of the most vulnerable people inside Syria. This winter, the ICRC with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent will distribute warm clothing to over 300,000 children across the country. Kessweh, a small town, 10km from Damascus, has seen a large influx of displaced. From 25,000 before the conflict in Syria began, the population rose to approximately 140,000 people. Most of the displaced live in the host families, rented flats, unfinished buildings and schools. As the winter approaches, the already vulnerable situation of thousands of them is expected to worsen.
Her grandmother was content when she received winter clothes for her grandson. She knows that her room will be always cold and the water will always leak through the walls and ceiling; but she prays that her grandson will feel better and warmer with his new winter clothes.
Original material :
digital
Resolution :
5616x3744
Orientation :
landscape
Colour/B&W :
colour
