At 55 years old, Dalal lives alone with her son – who suffers from mental and physical disabilities – in a small house in the outskirts of Mafraq in northern Jordan. Despite her reduced mobility, Dalal is solely responsible for the everyday care of her son and herself. These factors prevent Dalal from looking for a job and she is left with no choice but to rely on a governmental monthly allowance for vulnerable people of 80 JODs (100 Euros) and support from her neighbours.
In 2017, ACTED began working with Dalal and hundreds of other families to carry out basic household renovations. These have brought about dramatic improvements by reducing the domestic burden and providing access to the basic sanitation to which every human being is entitled.
Dalal’s accommodation was in dire need of renovation, particularly the toilet facilities. Located outside her home, the facilities lacked access to water, a roof as a protection from the weather and even a door. This deprived Dalal and her son of any privacy and exposed them to an increased risk of disease due to the extremely poor hygiene conditions. Furthermore, the facilities were hardly accessible for people with reduced mobility, such as Dalal and her son.
Dalal and her son's outside bathroom with no running water or door prior to ACTED's intervention
In 2017, ACTED, supported by European Union, through the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis, the EU “MADAD” Fund, began to work with Dalal and her family as well as more than 400 other families to provide them with adequate water and sanitation facilities. In April 2019, after a technical evaluation and assessment of the rehabilitation and upgrades that Dalal’s sanitation facilities needed, ACTED carried out comprehensive rehabilitation works. These upgrades aimed at installing new water and sanitation facilities inside the house: In a spare side of the living room, ACTED installed a new toilet, sink, water heater, and a light. ACTED also added a door and mobile partition walls in the room to give Dalal and her son the privacy they were lacking.
Dalal and her son formerly lacked access to things as basic as a working kitchen sink
In addition to the improvement of water and sanitation facilities, Dalal’s home was connected to the water and the waste water network, leading to improved hygiene conditions.
We finally have a bathroom inside the house. Our hygiene and living conditions in general have improved a lot. Although, providing for my family will still be hard, now my son and I can have access to water and live in better conditions
This project is made possible through support from the European Union:
About the EU Regional Trust Fund in response to the Syrian crisis, the EU ‘Madad’ Fund:
Since its establishment in December 2014, a significant share of the EU’s non-humanitarian aid for Syria’s neighbouring countries is provided through the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis, the EU ‘Madad’ Fund. The Trust Fund brings a more coherent and integrated EU aid response to the crisis and primarily addresses longer term economic, educational, protection and social needs of Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries such as Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq, and supports overstretched local communities and their administrations. To date, the Trust Fund has committed 334 million euros to Jordan.
For more information about the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis ‘Madad Fund’, please visit: https://ec.europa.eu/trustfund-syria-region/content/home_en