World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

Children of Zaatari (1)

Schools have started also at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, home to over 100,000 Syrian refugees. The children account for over half of the population of the camp. The number of Syrian refugees in the region (Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt) has exceeded two million, of whom1 million are children.

Children of Zaatari (2)

WFP provides fortified date bars to children attending school in the camp. WFP’s school feeding programme provides an incentive for parents to enrol and encourage their children to attend school. The daily snack helps students concentrate on their studies by preventing short-term hunger.

Children of Zaatari (3)

The school feeding programme is assisting students both in primary and secondary schools in Zaatari camp as well as intermediate classes as many children have been out of school for long periods of time.

Children of Zaatari (4) In Zaatari camp’s Child Friendly Spaces, run by UNICEF, children can play, draw and be children again, allowing them to forget the difficult times they went through before arriving in Jordan

Children of Zaatari (5)

In addition to food vouchers, WFP provides dry food rations to families in the camp. The rations include pasta, bulgur, rice, lentils, sugar and salt. Children often help their parents collect the food parcel and take it home. Refugees can cook the food in one of 250 communal kitchens set up by UNHCR in the camp, if they don’t have cooking facilities of their own.

Children of Zaatari (6)

Every morning, WFP distributes, with partner organization Save the Children, over 26 metric tons of fresh bread to refugees in Zaatari camp. That’s the equivalent of almost half a million portions of flat bread each day.

Children of Zaatari (7)

There are four bread distribution sites in the camp and children are often sent by their families to collect the bags of bread. Bread is a staple food in the Syrian diet.

Children of Zaatari (8) WFP food assistance in Zaatari camp costs around US$3.5 million per month. Across the region and inside Syria, WFP needs to raise US$30 million every week to meet the food needs of people affected by the Syrian conflict.

Children of Zaatari (9)

Life carries on, in Zaatari camp. Every day, more than 10 babies are born. WFP will provide specialized nutritional food to moderately malnourished children under five as well as to malnourished pregnant and nursing women, in the communities and in the camp.

Children of Zaatari (10)

The children of Zaatari are ready to start school again. The camp has grown rapidly since it first opened in July 2012 now being the fifth biggest settlement in Jordan. Now, children can go to school, eat a healthy meal, play in dedicated children’s playgrounds and lead relatively normal childhoods, even if far from home.

For more information on WFP's response to the Syrian crisis or to make donation, go to the Syria crisis page.