Syria: Iraqi refugee women gain skills as beauticians
Thursday, July 23, 2009

Angelique Al Asmar does not mince words when speaking of the plight of Iraqi refugees in Syria. "It's heart-breaking," said the 24-year-old vocational training officer with the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All The East.

Nour Sabah applies makeup to Merna Jora during a session of a skills-training program for Iraqi refugee women sponsored by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All The East in Damascus, Syria. Although Syria officially forbids Iraqi refugees from working, many earn precious income in the informal economy. Action by Churches Together supports the work of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in providing skills training and other essential services to Iraqi refugees. Photo: Paul Jeffrey/ACT

By Chris Herlinger, ACT / Church World Service
 
DAMASCUS, SYRIA - Angelique Al Asmar does not mince words when speaking of the plight of Iraqi refugees in Syria.
 
"It's heart-breaking," said the 24-year-old vocational training officer with the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All The East.
 
It is indeed. Many Iraqis are stuck in limbo, awaiting word if they will be able to leave Syria and join relatives elsewhere. Their impatience is fueled by bitter memories of violence in Iraq and a determination not to return to their homeland, perhaps ever.
 
In a July 21 story, IRIN, the news service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, quoted two reports confirming some of the continuing problems and challenges facing Iraqi refugees, particularly displaced Iraqi women.
 
One report, released July 15 by Washington-based Refugees International, said Iraqi women will not return to Iraq "if there is no focus on securing their rights as women and assuring their personal security and their families' well-being," IRIN reported.
 
An earlier report, released July 2 and authored by Elizabeth Ferris, senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. and co-director of the Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement, estimated that there have been more than 4 million Iraqis displaced since 2003, with 2.8 million Iraqis displaced internally in 2008. Ferris estimates that 1.2 million Iraqi refuges are now living in Syria.
 
Ferris, formerly of the World Council of Churches and earlier of Church World Service, said "most refugees and especially IDPs return spontaneously--without international assistance--when they judge that the situation back home is secure enough or when conditions in exile become unbearable," IRIN reported.
 
Are conditions in Syria unbearable? Refugees say at the least that they live uneasily--able to earn money "off the books," but still not fully integrated into civil and social life.
 
But the work of the Patriarchate, supported by Action by Churches Together members, is giving some sense of hope and stability to Iraqi women whose lives, and lives of their families, have been gravely disrupted by the six-year Iraqi war.
 
In late 2008, some of that work was on full display as a group of Iraqi refugee women showed off their skills as beauticians at a Saturday morning skills-training program at a Damascus beauty parlor.
 
The training helps women hone their skills so they can find employment in Syria's "informal economy" - supporting their families in a country where Iraqi refugees lead a bifurcated life. While Syria allows the refugees to stay in Syria, they are not officially allowed to work, leading many to scramble to find ways to support themselves and their families.
 
The combined ACT program in Syria and Jordan--involving work with International Orthodox Christian Charities, Norwegian Church Aid and the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC)--is providing assistance to some 5,000 families and hundreds of young people.
 
The MECC program, carried out in part by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All The East, has a number of components, including vocational training like the beauticians course, to those of both sexes.
 
But a key component is also in providing training to Syrians - a way of showing solidarity with the "host community."
 
"Our duty is to include those with whom we're integrating," said Samer Laham, director of ecumenical relations for the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Damascus and representative for the MECC in Damascus.
 
On this particular Saturday morning, spirits were high as the training course for 10 women--held three times a week for a total of 40 sessions. Nour Saban applied makeup to Mema Jora, and Hala Miqael applied makeup to her daughter, Vira Jora. Giggles were common. "We have good results, but sometimes it's awful," Al Asmar said, laughing, noting that mistakes are occasionally made--but always forgiven.
 
One instructor noted that the Iraqi women "are good; they are starting from 'zero' and are very enthusiastic to learn."
 
The classes are not only ways to acquire skills in makeup application and hairdressing--which by all accounts have led refugee women to find steady jobs in Damascus--but also a way "to forget sorrows," said Al Asmar.
 
The sorrows are just below the surface--the stories of friends and relatives killed in Iraq, of separation and uncertainty as families await word if they will immigrate to the United States, Canada or Australia.
 
Still, for a few precious moments, these Saturday mornings become moments to savor, laugh and look to the future with optimism.

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