تحسين الوصول إلى المياه الآمنة، والحفاظ على كرامة اللاجئين الفلسطينيين في الأردن
شراكة ما بين اليونيسف ودائرة الشؤون الفلسطينية
- English
- العربية
Under leaky roofs in a cramped three-room house, 30-year-old Rania lives with her husband, six children, stepson, and mother-in-law.
Much of the family’s daily life is impacted by poor housing conditions. Such conditions are all too common for hundreds of families living in Palestinian refugee camps across Jordan. In Jerash Camp, home to more than 33,000 Palestinian refugees including Rania’s family, half of the population live under the poverty line.
“When it rains, all nine of us gather in the room with the least leaks - but even that room would still leak and everything gets wet,” Rania explains.
UNICEF/El-Noaimi
When the bathroom roof collapsed a while ago, the family replaced it with a simple, makeshift one. Now Rania is worried that “it’s only a matter of time before this one fails too.”
UNICEF/El-Noaimi
UNICEF/El-Noaimi
The kitchen is tiny and does not have a sink. “I wash the dishes on the kitchen floor, and the water drains through a hole in the ground,” Rania explains. “I struggle trying to keep the kitchen clean. I don’t want my children to get sick.”
UNICEF/El-Noaimi
Electricity is another daily hazard, with wires running openly across the house. “Once, there was a short circuit, and the entire metal roof became electrified. We were terrified.”
Among the most pressing challenges facing the family is access to water. With only one two cubic metres water tank that only gets filled every two weeks, the family frequently runs out of water. Consequently, they have to rely on expensive water trucking that is not always affordable. Rania’s husband works as a day worker, with income that is unreliable and insufficient. “When we are unable to afford water, we put much of our lives on hold.”
In 2021, a UNICEF assessment found that nearly half of all households in Jerash Camp face some kind of difficulty accessing safe and clean drinking water.
In response, thanks to generous support from the Government of the United States, and in partnership with the Department of Palestinian Affairs in Jordan, UNICEF is rehabilitating water, sanitation and hygiene facilities and installing water tanks for some of the most vulnerable families in Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan.
This year, Rania’s family is one of 70 households whose homes are being rehabilitated, and among 4,000 families receiving new water tanks through UNICEF in Palestinian refugee camps across Jordan, in coordination with the Department of Palestinian Affairs in Jordan. Altogether, more than 20,300 people will benefit from improved access to water and WASH facilities in their homes.
“We are finally receiving the help we so desperately need,” Rania comments on the rehabilitation work set to start shortly in her house.
“We feel like our life is being transformed.”
