Can you imagine living in a home where you didn’t have a place to go to the bathroom?
We’ve discovered over the last few days how important privacy and protection is for the families in Za’atari camp. And that is true again today, when we met Maryam.
This mother lives with her daughter Nirmeen in a small caravan that was lacking both a kitchen and bathroom. They put up blankets for privacy when bathing. They cook in their front yard, next to their neighbors.
But, our team knew it wouldn’t take much to bring this family some privacy.
We constructed a new bathroom space by erecting iron sheet metal adjacent to the home. And we closed off a portion of the outdoor space into a new kitchen area.
When they saw their new home, Maryam was ecstatic. “Now I can live safely, I’ll stop feeling the eyes of people on us,” she said. “Now my daughter is like everybody else, she has a bathroom and walls, I feel she’s finally protected.”
Team member Manar was also overjoyed about how this transformation impacted the family.
“When we first visited, Nirmeen was so afraid, she wouldn’t look at us, or smile. When we finished this bright yellow bathroom, she ran towards me and hugged me. She is so happy now.”
