Everyday Refugees Foundation and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation Grant
“Rooms for Hope”
After several months of detailed planning and preparation, “Rooms for Hope” just arrived to Jordan, providing Syrian refugees with an organized creative play area and nursery in their camp.
We officially opened “Rooms for Hope” on October 23 in the Azraq refugee camp in Jordan. Located around 100km east of its capital Amman, around 41,000 Syrian refugee mothers, fathers, and children reside in the camp. About 61% are children under the age of 18, and more than 7,000 are under the age of five. This project is dedicated to the youth in the camp who yearn for, and are in need of, safe spaces to play and interact with one another.
In the beige, dusty landscape of the Azraq refugee camp there are now two colorful “Rooms for Hope” caravans with beautifully painted scenes of trees, rainbows, and playgrounds adorning the exterior. One caravan serves as a nursery and the other as a children’s play area.
The caravans are fully equipped with all the essentials, such as a bassinet in the nursery, age-appropriate toys, and a ball pit. The play area caravan features colorful tables and chairs sized for young children along with yellow beanbags for seating, colorful wall art, and many toys. There are board games and puzzles to stimulate their minds as well as notebooks and colored pencils to inspire them to practice writing or create art.
Both “Rooms for Hope” are also equipped with air conditioning and wash rooms. Outside the caravans is a covered playground that includes a swing set, slide, and two small playhouses.
For the inauguration we decorated the space with balloons before welcoming dozens of children aged five to seven, and their parents, to a fun filled day of surprise activities. The faces of both children and parents were full of anticipation as they waited to see the “Rooms for Hope”.
As soon as we opened the door the children eagerly ran inside, hardly able to contain their excitement as they saw their new space.
Ibtisam, age 6, jumped up and down as she noticed all the toys in the room. “I’m so happy. I want to play with everything”, she said.
“It is a really great project. We need this in our camp to give the children a place to be themselves without stress”, said Asia Al-Abadi, a 32-year-old mother from Raqqa, Syria, the mother of 6-year-old Ibtisam.
During the festive event the children played and spent time drawing while enjoying sweets, juice, and a bag of gifts that included a toy electronic educational tablet. A DJ played uplifting music as everyone sang together! The children also joined in dancing with a traditional Syrian dabke band (Arabic Folk Dance), whose members are from their own camp’s refugee community. Seeing the joy of both children and parents was priceless.
“Our children need fun spaces like this” said Zahra Al-Taher, a 29-year-old Syrian refugee mother from Aleppo, the mother of 5-year-old Khalid.
The caravans not only provide a safe area for kids to play and for parents to take care of their little ones, but they also offer a place for parents, especially mothers, to socialize. It’s a way for them to connect and support each other through shared experiences, while also teaching and playing with their children.
In addition to helping the children in this crucial phase of their development by providing play and safety, the caravans also serve the community of the camp as a whole. Children will interact more with their peers, meet other people, and learn social skills that they will help them beyond the caravans.
Ensuring a safe and healthy environment for the youth is a pillar of our foundation and our endeavors are a long-term commitment. “Rooms for Hope”, our project in Azraq refugee camp in Jordan in collaboration with the Princess Alia Foundation, is the latest iteration of our “Room for Hope” project that we began in 2022, providing a safe space for Ukrainian refugee children at a shelter in the Romanian capital. Our current goal is to commit, for at least a year, to ensuring that the caravans are running smoothly by supporting the staff and maintenance of the caravans as well providing educational materials.
