Asma’s story
My name is Asma, I am 31. I was born in Homs, Syria where we had everything we needed. But most importantly, I had my dreams.
I finished high school in Syria and I planned on studying English literature in college. But shortly after that, the conflict forced us to leave everything behind, including our dreams and homes.
At the beginning of the war, I worked as a teacher for three months in Homs. But after that, we were forced to leave Syria and become refugees in Jordan.
I left Syria with my father, stepmother and two young brothers and three sisters between ages 13 and 8. When we came across the Jordanian borders we stayed in Zaatari camp for a month but soon left to go in live in Sahab, Amman.
Once we arrived at Sahab we lived with our cousin for a few months then we found an apartment that we can live in and we are here for seven years now.
My father gets 150 JDs (about $211) for his monthly cash assistance and it all goes and for rent and bills payment. We pay 120 JDs (about $169) as rent for the apartment without the bills.
I get monthly cash assistance 80 JDs (about $112), but I use all the money for medicine as I have severe anemia and need to have several blood plasma injections every month.
I have this health problem for two years now, the first time it happened to me; our neighbor carried me to the hospital because I didn’t have any money to cover the hospitalization fees.
Life is very difficult and expensive here, so I needed to have another income source.
Looking for a job is very challenging. First of all; the language barrier is my main problem, everyone asks about English skills which are skills that I don’t have because I studied in Syria in Arabic all my life. I would like to attend English classes to feel more empowered.
My other challenge is the sectors that I can work in are limited, for example, I had the chance to work in a factory for tailoring, but it was a mixed working environment (males and females) which is not comfortable for me, so I couldn’t take the job.
I am also trying to find a job using an online search such as opensooq but there are many challenges. Often the salaries offered for refugees are low, and the public transportation to get to the job location is expensive and time-consuming.
Going back to Syria is not an option for me right now, my home is destroyed! My life is here now, and I don’t want to lose my hope here as well.
My dream is to get the chance to continue my education so I can have a decent job. Work provides us with hope for the future, but also as a woman a chance to make a living for ourselves, to not have to rely on anyone. For me, this would be the most important thing.
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