Assalamu aleykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatu,
Dear sisters,
We have lived for years under Askari control, treated without mercy. We have endured immense injustice, and that injustice continues to this day. If I were to write about the full extent of the oppression we have suffered, I could never finish the story.
Daily life in the camp is a struggle for survival. Everything costs double or triple what it costs outside the camp, and most women cannot afford basic necessities for themselves and their children. Even humanitarian aid that is distributed for free is resold in the market at exorbitant prices.
Inside the camp, there is a Hawala office where we receive money sent to us. We are forbidden from receiving that money in dollars. Even though the money is being send to us in dollars, the office give it to us only in Syrian lira, and takes a very large fees.
Every time the dollar is exchanged at a certain rate in Syria, we are not given that same rate. We are given a much lower rate. And we have no right to complain.
The price of water is extremely high, as are other basic groceries. The prices are never stable. They change as the value of the dollar increases. But when the value of the dollar decreases, the prices do not decrease — they stay the same.
All footwear brought to the market is of the worst quality, yet sold at very high prices. After only one month, the shoes are so worn and damaged that they can no longer be worn. Clothes and fabrics for sewing are of the same low quality. This is where the greatest profit is made — very cheap products are brought in from outside and sold inside the camp at two or three times the price.
Most women suffer because of these inflated prices and the lack of basic food and other essentials.
The situation with water is the most serious. Most women and children cannot afford to buy clean drinking water. We are forced to use water pumped into large tanks, where we find worms and dirt many times .Because we have to drink this contaminated water, most of us now suffer from sand and stones in our kidneys.
The hospital we have inside the camp charges us money even for the smallest blood test. From a normal blood analysis to vitamin levels, hormones, glucose and others, it can cost over $100.The medicines prescribed by the doctor are sold in the pharmacy at extremely high prices, forcing women to give up buying them and to take only what is considered ‘urgent’.
And if the test shows a disease or a problem with an organ that requires urgent intervention or surgery, that must be paid for separately after the patient is taken to the general hospital outside the camp, escorted by soldiers. The costs of the hospital stay, food, medical tests, medicines and the surgery all go on the patient’s account, which sometimes reaches $3,000.
Many of us have not had a blood test done in years, both because we lack the money and because we are afraid to find out what kind of illness we have in our bodies, knowing that it is almost impossible to receive full medical assistance.
While the ASskari profit and our health and the health of our children has been destroyed for almost a decade, the world remains silent.
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