World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

In Jordan’s biggest refugee camp, WFP has begun a shift in the way it provides food to families who have fled the conflict in Syria. Instead of traditional food rations, refugees are being introduced to vouchers, which allow them to start buying their own food. With products like cheese and eggs now more accessible, the initial reaction has been enthusiastic.

Haya Abassi is a native of Palestine. Since joining WFP, she’s worked across the Middle East from Libya and Tunisia to Jordan. Her role has put her on the front lines of more than one humanitarian emergency in the region. Today, she manages a food and voucher programme for refugees from Syria.
 

Toqa’s collection of woolly hats is one of the the only things she took with her when her family fled their home in Syria. It's among few reminders of the home she left behind before coming to Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan. Determined to become a doctor, she's at the top of her class at school where WFP provides nutritious snacks to children like her.

The conflict in Syria has led thousands of Syrians to flee seeking safety in neighbouring Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt. Food is one of their priority needs and WFP is responding with an operation to assist refugees in all five countries. WFP is providing assistance mainly through food vouchers redeemable in local shops as well as direct food distributions in some areas where beneficiaries cannot access markets easily.

Zeina, 10, and her family were displaced three times inside Syria before coming to Jordan in search of safety. Originally from Homs, the scene of some of the worst fighting in the past months, Zeina’s family shuttled across Syria until they ended up in Zaatari camp.

As Feryal waited at a WFP distribution point, she managed a smile for her two daughters, Nour and Batoul. But the mother was clearly still in shock over what had happened to her family since her husband’s death a few weeks ago in their Syrian hometown of Daraa. She is just one of the people WFP is helping at Zaatari refugee camp.

On 29 July, the Zaatari camp in Marfaq, south of the Syrian border, became Jordan’s first official camp for Syrian refugees fleeing violence in their country. As Jordan continues to receive tens of thousands of Syrians, opening this camp had become necessary to accommodate terrified families.

In response to the Syrian emergency, WFP Jordan started on 19 April hot meals distribution for 1,000 Syrian refugees living in guest houses in two locations in Ramtha on the Jordanian Syrian border.  Over one year of crisis in Syria has caused a deterioration of living conditions.

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