Reports | 19 10 2016
Abu Ahmed goes out every morning looking for scrap in the alleys and streets of "Ghouta" to sell them, where he did not find any other field of livelihood to meet the demands of his displaced family.
Abu Ahmed is one of thousands of displaced civilians who were fled the lawn area in the countryside of Damascus a few months ago, after the military escalation and the heavy bombardment by the Syrian regime forces in the region, where he arrived in the city of "Sakba" in the Eastern "Ghouta", and began his difficult journey.
Limitless Suffering
Abu Ahmed could not find a suitable home for him, because of the high rents that exceed his current income, what forced him to live with his brother’s family in one room with eight people.
His wife Um Ahmed said to "Rozana": "Our situation is very tragic; besides I suffer from Anemia. Doctors told me that I should have more nutritious food, add to that being pregnant with bad health situation. Despite all the suffering, my husband wakes up every day early in the morning, looking for scrap to collect, and then sell them to dealers to secure the price of bread and little food fill their hunger."
And what makes things worse, is that his daughter’s hand was broken recently.
Battles then Displacement
Thousands of civilians have fled from the lawn area last June, after a fierce military campaign waged by the Syrian regime against the region, and perhaps the most prominent areas that have suffered from this campaign was "Hazrama" and "Al-Bahariyah".
The Syrian regime forces bombed the area with different types of weapons, rockets, barrels, mortars, artillery, and tank shells. That led to the destruction of the infrastructure there, in addition to the burning of vast areas of agricultural crops from the nearby "Al-Bahariyah".
This family’s story is the only one, where each family carries with it many stories of pain. Abu Ali from the town of "Otaiba", was forced to flee from the town after the heavy bombardment and moved to "Hamoria" in the Eastern "Ghouta".
"After a long search, we found a very tight room in "Hamoria", with no doors or windows. And above all that, we must walk for a long time to reach the nearest water well and get some drinking water, and yet we are still should endure such suffering", the man said to "Rozana".
The situation is over the ability of local councils!
The number of displaced families from the towns and villages of Marj is up to 11500 family, due to the battles between the regime forces and the opposition factions.
The Media activist Abu Zaid said about that: "people fled to the towns of "Kafr Batna" and "Sakba", what cause a great density of population in these areas, so we suggest to the single relief Office and to the local councils in the cities of Central "Ghouta", to start a project of rebuilding the destructive houses."
He added: "Unfortunately, the local councils still don’t have the ability to rebuild the devastated houses, and the relief office can only provide the displaced people with the initial humanitarian assistance and."
Sakba’s local council
According to the activist Abu Zaid, the number of displaced people increased after the military campaign expanded to many towns in the region, what makes it imperative for the local councils to start new projects of rebuilding the destructive house, what may handle part of the current problem.
What are the problems faced by the local council in "Sakba"? Answer Abu "Asim": "We are going through many obstacles after the number of arrivals is increasing as a result of the ongoing war, and "Sakba" received the largest numbers of displaced people with no available proper housing, there are already a lot of apartments but they are all inhabited by families."
He continued: "We could not rebuild the houses fully, but have accomplished many of them, and will try in the future to expand this work to include all of them, but now our work is limited to providing relief services for displaced people with bad cases, for a day or two until they settle."
The local council is trying to increase the number of artesian wells to provide water for the displaced people in the region, after an increase in water consumption, and working on the rehabilitation of drainage systems to the new communities created by arrivals.
Humanitarian catastrophe is still hunting the arrivals to the Eastern "Ghouta", and each family carries its concern with it, trying to provide the key supplies that they need, like a house or perhaps a small room and some water to meet the household needs, while Abu Ahmed continues his work in searching for scrap to sell.