WORLD NEWS

This week I visited Zataari Reguee Camp in Jordan. The population is already at over 90,000 people and the camp is getting bigger by the day. The size of the camp is overwhelming and the rate that it is growing almost beyond belief. Some days we are seeing up to 5000 new arrivals in the camp!
I was incredibly impressed by the work of Save the Children in the camp. I met some of the staff who earlier this year, despite the evacuation instructions given by the UN, went back into the camp during a major storm. The storm saw the flooding and collapse of tents sheltering thousands of refugees. Some staff worked for 72 hours straight getting families to safety and ensuring they had the basics to get through this event. While this particular crisis is over, in reality no matter how well we can provide services, every day is a struggle for the thousands of Syrian children who are in the camp. As the situation continues, tensions in the camp rise and the frustration for families can reach breaking point, making the operating environment for our staff incredibly difficult. For example, Save the Children staff now provide bread on a daily basis to over 90,000 individuals in the camp. Despite how well this is organized it is hard not to see tempers flare as people struggle to get food. We are now looking at ways of reducing tension and to continue ensuring that people can receive the basic necessities in dignity.
Visiting one of the kindergartens run by Save the Children was a welcome respite to the difficult situation for so many children in the camp. For a few moments of my visit I felt I was somewhere normal; somewhere where children were able to be children: have fun, play games, laugh and sing. I could also see a few of the 22 child friendly spaces providing a safe environment for children to have fun and escape the hardships of the camp. A large number of Syrian volunteers support the running of these centres; people clearly proud at being able to support their communities at this time of crisis.
The latest projections by the UN stand at up to 1.1 million refugees in surrounding countries by June - I fear these figures are a major underestimation. If the fighting in Syria intensifies in Damascus we are likely to see a major exodus of refugees into surrounding countries. In addition to doing what we can for people now, we must all prepare for a much bigger crisis.