‘People look at you as a second-class citizen because you are a refugee’

Jara, a 23-year-old Syrian refugee, fled with her family to Lebanon from Syria almost three years ago. Her husband travelled from Lebanon to the Netherlands and later to Germany in November 2015. Jara’s husband left in search of a better life for the family. In Lebanon they had no decent living conditions or legal access to employment and health care.

Many Syrian refugees work in Lebanon in difficult conditions for up to 12 to 13 hours a day, earning as little as US$10. Jara and her husband felt they were being taken advantage of. ‘Syrians, like all other people, have to work in order to provide for the family, but a lot of us do not have a choice but to accept the bad conditions.’ 

With no money to pay for services, and unable to follow the procedures required for Syrian refugees to access health care, Jara became desperate when her eldest son, Hamza, 30 months of age, developed severe diarrhoea. After being refused treatment in the hospital because she could not produce the correct documents or payment, Jara carried her son into the examination room and told the doctor that she was not leaving until he was treated.

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Jara and her two sons, Hamza and Ibrahim, 10 months of age, took an arduous, 10-day journey by land and sea from Lebanon to Turkey and then to Europe. ‘The hardest part was crossing the sea. All the passengers were wet and cold. Children were scared, shivering and crying in the boat, which carried many more people than it should,’ says Jara.

‘People look at you as a second-class citizen because you are a refugee,’ says Jara. While travelling with her children from Lebanon to Germany to reunite with her husband, Jara met World Vision staff in a child friendly space, offering basic services, including food and hygiene supplies, to refugees.