Ghazaleh Al-Ali is from Aleppo, Syria. Al-Ali left Syria in 2014 and has been in Amman since then. At first she lived in Azraq camp, but due to her illness, she left. She has a refugee status, but only receives care packages – however, even those she has not been received in 10 to 12 months now. Al-Ali’s 5 children could not go to school in Turkey; however, in Jordan they all go to public schools. Some challenges facing their education during the Covid-19 pandemic is connectivity, as two smartphones are not enough for 5 children, plus internet connectivity is not free.
In 2015, Al-Ali worked for the Danish Refugee Council as a trainer for women, teaching them how to craft souvenirs for sale. Afterwards, she became a freelance trainer. Covid-19, however, made training a difficult prospect. Even her husband, Mustafa, who was a shoemaker based in Ashrafiyeh and Al Luweibdeh, suffered from the pandemic. With rent behind the couple, the family lives in fear; despite the help of Jamat Orthodoxi with the rent and bills, eviction still looms large – and with it the threat on children’s education.
Al-Ali’s husband, moreover, needs a medical operation for his cruciate ligament. He seems hopeful despite the dire circumstances. Al-Ali herself has been an MSF patient since April of last year. While fleeing Syria, she and her family were stopped at a regime checkpoint and was beaten. She could walk, but felt so much pain she suffered from a loss of feeling.
Yet, as a mother, Al-Ali helps her daughters draw on cups using FEMO materials, and sells the products via WhatsApp groups, in addition to practicing calligraphy and needlework.
Ghazaleh Al-Ali and her husband escaped from Aleppo after the Assad regime started bombing the city; they went to her husband’s house in the village. And when Daesh arrived at the area, they escaped again because her husband is Kurdish and some Daesh members were talking about marrying off one of Al-Ali’s young daughters. There are other people living in the couple’s village house now.
On the way from Turkey to Jordan – through Raqqa, crammed among 100 others in a sheep truck – Al-Ali and her husband were stopped at a checkpoint. Regime soldiers were searching for young men escaping conscription; they started beating everyone indiscriminately, and that’s when Al-Ali’s foot was broken.
There were 1700 refugees on the border to Jordan, in this no man’s land, where even tents were lacking. This happened in April 2014. The family stayed for 18 days on the border, amid fights involving Daesh, regime forces, and the Syrian Free Army. Eventually, they were allowed into Jordan because Al-Ali was suffering from appendix pain and needed urgent surgery for her foot.
Al-Ali and her family spent 48 days in Azraq camp. In the camp, no proper education was available; children were taken somewhere and given cake. And people from all over Syria – from Deraa to Damascus – had their own tents; as for the Kurds, there were just two families of them there.