scholarly journals Manzuaat wa Musharadat, Uprooted and Scattered: Refugee Women Escape Journey and the Longing to Return to Syria

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niveen Rizkalla ◽  
Suher Adi ◽  
Nour Khaddaj Mallat ◽  
Laila Soudi ◽  
Rahma Arafa ◽  
...  

ObjectiveViolent conflict forced millions of Syrians to flee their homes to host countries. This study examines Syrian refugee women’s experiences from the war’s outset through their journey to Jordan. It addresses the toll this journey had on their lives.MethodsTwenty-four in-depth interviews were completed with Syrian refugee women who currently reside in urban areas of Jordan. Researchers translated, transcribed, and analyzed the interviews using group narrative methodology.ResultsThe Syrian women had unique nostalgic memories of times before the war. They experienced atrocities during the war that forced their decision to escape Syria. Their journey narratives testify of internal displacement, personal and collective traumatic journeys via legal and illegal routes. Almost all the women were placed in refugee camps during their transitions to host country residency. In Jordan, they faced diverse hurdles of displacement and extremely different realities compared to the ones they had in Syria. Despite how very different but difficult each of their journeys were, every single woman longed to return home to Syria.ConclusionsThis study presents a new understanding of the role and process of the journeys undertaken and highlights the concept of “return” as the defining element for Syrian refugee women. Regardless of the hardships women endured to escape their homeland to find safety, “return” marks an ending to their horror journey and the beginning of a new journey of hope for a better future.

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 28-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danilo Mandic

As of March 2016, 4.8 million Syrian refugees were scattered in two dozen countries by the civil war. Refugee smuggling has been a major catalyst of human trafficking in the Middle East and Europe migrant crises. Data on the extent to which smuggling devolved into trafficking in this refugee wave is, however, scarce. This article investigates how Syrian refugees interact with smugglers, shedding light on how human smuggling and human trafficking interrelated on the Balkan Route. I rely on original evidence from in-depth interviews (n = 123) and surveys (n = 100) with Syrian refugees in Jordan, Turkey, Greece, Serbia, and Germany; as well as ethnographic observations in thirty-five refugee camps or other sites in these countries. I argue that most smugglers functioned as guides, informants, and allies in understudied ways—thus refugee perceptions diverge dramatically from government policy assumptions. I conclude with a recommendation for a targeted advice policy that would acknowledge the reality of migrant-smuggler relations, and more effectively curb trafficking instead of endangering refugees.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4.1) ◽  
pp. 44-64
Author(s):  
Sahar Al-Shar ◽  
Muhammad Al-Tarawneh

This article describes and analyzes the main problematic issues of social and cultural assimilation encountered by Syrian refugee women in Jordan who are not living in refugee camps, and the reasons for the identity crisis that these women experience. The data that provide this information were collected by means of semi-structured interviews from a sample of 50 of these women. The results show that most of the Syrian refugee women living outside the camps suffered from hardships that interfered with their social and cultural assimilation. There were few formal social relationships between refugee women and others in their milieu, and the refugees felt that there were distinct cultural differences in dialect, customs, and traditions between them and their Jordanian peers. The study shows that most of the participants were living in a state of social isolation resulting from identity crisis. It was difficult for them to develop a sense of belonging to the society of the country of asylum while being distracted both by day-to-day concerns and by their desire to return to their homeland. These factors limited their ability to develop good relations with the host community as a prelude to integration, assimilation, and social symmetry.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noha Mohammad Al-Shdayfat

BACKGROUND: Violence against women is a worldwide issue. Emotional abuse of women is the second most common form of abuse after physical abuse. Thus, this issue needs focus and attention especially among disadvantaged communities such as refugees.OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of emotional abuse among Syrian refugee women in Jordan.METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted using a convenient sample of 182 Syrian refugee women residing in Mafraq Governorate. Participants were recruited from Maternal & Child Health Centers (MCHC) across the governorate. A validated Arabic version of the NorVold Domestic Abuse Questionnaire (NORAQ) was used to collect data from the study participants.RESULTS: Participants’ ages ranged from 19 to 55 years, (mean age ± 30.2; SD ± 8.9 years). Forty four percent of the participants reported experiencing emotional abuse in the preceding year prior the evaluation. The lifetime prevalence of emotional abuse was 51.6%. About 21.4% of married refugees surveyed reported emotional abuse from their husbands. Thirteen percent of the married participant reported being emotionally abused by their brothers. Twelve of the unmarried participants reported that the perpetrators were family members (4 fathers, 7 brothers, and 1 mother). Logistic regression model revealed that Syrian refugee women who are married, live within large families, reside in urban areas, and have lower educational levels are more likely to suffer emotional abuse. A significant association was found between exposure to emotional abuse and poor mental health, including depression, insomnia and feelings of anguish.CONCLUSION: High prevalence rate of life time abuse was revealed by this study. Overall, findings suggest that improving socio-demographic circumstances (i e education) would reduce their vulnerability to emotional abuse. This study may guide both future research and current efforts to combat emotional violence amongst Syrian refugee women.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 110
Author(s):  
Alexandra Titz

Disaster-related internal displacement is on the rise in many countries and is increasingly becoming an urban phenomenon. For many people, as in the case of the earthquake disaster 2015 in Nepal, protracted or multiple disaster displacements are a lived reality. While the drivers of displacement are relatively well understood, significant uncertainties remain regarding the factors that trigger prolonged or secondary displacement and impede ending of displacement or achieving durable solutions. The purpose of this article is to illustrate and theorise the discourse of reconstruction and return that shapes experiences, strategies, and policies in order to gain a better understanding of the obstacles to pursuing durable solutions that are still shaping the reality of life for urban internally displaced people (IDPs) in Kathmandu Valley. I use the concepts of ‘fields of practice’ and ‘disaster justice’ to provide insights into the theorisation of the links between social inequality, structural forms of governance, and the reconstruction process itself. Findings demonstrate that the application of these concepts has great potential to expand our understanding of ‘realities of life’ and practices of IDPs, and thus contribute to a more differentiated evidence base for the development and implementation of appropriate disaster risk reduction policies and practices.


2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 983-998
Author(s):  
L’Emira Lama El Ayoubi ◽  
Sawsan Abdulrahim ◽  
Maia Sieverding

Providing adolescent girls with sexual and reproductive health (SRH) information protects them from risks and improves their well-being. This qualitative study, conducted in Lebanon, examined Syrian refugee adolescent girls’ access to SRH information about and experiences with puberty and menarche, sex, marriage, contraception, and pregnancy. We gathered data through three focus group discussions (FGDs) with unmarried adolescent girls, 11 in-depth interviews with early-married adolescents, and two FGDs with mothers. Our findings highlighted that adolescent participants received inadequate SRH information shortly before or at the time of menarche and sexual initiation, resulting in experiences characterized by anxiety and fear. They also revealed discordance between girls’ views of mothers as a preferred source of information and mothers’ reluctance to communicate with their daughters about SRH. We advance that mothers are important entry points for future interventions in this refugee population and offer recommendations aimed to improve adolescent girls’ SRH and rights.


2021 ◽  
pp. 104365962110263
Author(s):  
Ahlam Al-Natour ◽  
Edith J. Morris ◽  
Samar Mohammad Al-Ostaz

Background The Syrian war conflict ended with devastating impact on Syrian refugee women and their children. A few studies have been done that explored the impact of the civil war and displacement of Syrian families from a cultural perspective. The purpose of this study was to highlight the experiences of the Syrian war–refugee families who have sought shelter in a host country. Method A descriptive phenomenological study was conducted using a semistructured interview approach among 16 Syrian refugee women who were approached from two Jordanian health care centers. Results The main themes discussed how the war ended with financial and social stress, family violence, and hazardous effects on women and children health. Conclusion This article introduced how culture and religion influence how family unit and members responded to war stressors. This study provided transcultural nursing knowledge, allowing nurses to be grounded in individualized culturally specific care.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Drake ◽  
Shelli Dubay ◽  
Maximilian L Allen

Abstract Coyotes are ubiquitous in habitats across North America, including in urban areas. Reviews of human–coyote encounters are limited in scope and analysis and predominantly document encounters that tend to be negative, such as human–wildlife conflict, rather than benign experiences. The objective of our study was to use citizen science reports of human–coyote interactions entered into iNaturalist to better understand the range of first person accounts of human–coyote encounters in Madison, WI. We report 398 citizen science accounts of human–coyote encounters in the Madison area between October 2015 and March 2018. Most human–coyote encounters occurred during coyote breeding season and half of all encounters occurred in moderate development land cover. Estimated level of coyote aggressiveness varied significantly, with 90% of citizen scientists scoring estimated coyote aggression as a 0 and 7% scoring estimated aggression as a 1 on a 0–5 scale (with 0 being calm and 5 being aggressive). Our best performing model explaining the estimated distance between the human observer and a coyote (our proxy for a human–coyote encounter) included the variables distance to nearest paved road, biological season of the year relative to coyote life history, and time of day/night. We demonstrate that human–coyote interactions are regularly more benign than negative, with almost all first-hand reported human–coyote encounters being benign. We encourage public outreach focusing on practices that can foster benign encounters when educating the public to facilitate human–coyote coexistence.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2075
Author(s):  
Sławomir Pytel ◽  
Sławomir Sitek ◽  
Marta Chmielewska ◽  
Elżbieta Zuzańska-Żyśko ◽  
Anna Runge ◽  
...  

Brownfields are remnants of the functional and spatial transformations of urban areas in Poland. They are particularly abundant in old industrial districts, based on coal mining and metallurgy. The aim of this study is to identify the transformation directions and functional changes of brownfields in the former Upper Silesian Industrial Region in southern Poland, which has evolved into the Górnośląsko-Zagłębiowska Metropolis (GZM) through the process of socio-economic transformation. The study makes use of the χ2 test of independence and Cramer’s V as a post-test, and the method of in-depth interviews. The results indicate that the most popular new functions of post-industrial sites are production and services. When we consider large brownfields such as, in particular, disused mine dumps, dumping sites, settling ponds and workings, the most popular new form of land use is green spaces. Moreover, the study shows that the size of brownfields impacts their new forms of land use.


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