Syrian refugees take to bicycles in Zaatari Refugee Camp

ZAATARI REFUGEE CAMP — Down the Champs-Elysees, as the main street in Zaatari Refugee Camp is known,  pedestrians tread carefully to avoid the traffic caused by cyclists and carriages transporting and selling goods.

In Zaatari, in Mafraq, bicycles have become the main means of transportation for residents to move around the sprawling camp. 

Sometimes whole families ride on a single bicycle, a sight that has become familiar in the camp, which is home to 79,326 Syrian refugees. 

When the camp was established in 2012, families found it difficult to move from one area of the camp to another, and going by car or private taxi cost JD2 even for a trip inside the camp.  

Now, thousands of bicycles can be seen in the camp every day. Some families interviewed by The Jordan Time said they dream to own their own bicycle, which they said could cost up to
JD150. 

Some try to save a few dinars from the monthly financial support they receive from the UNHCR to buy a bicycle, which has become a priority in some households. 

Abu Ezz said he needed a bicycle regardless of the cost, especially after his wife lost their baby when an ambulance was delayed in reaching them when she was in labour. 

“It was late in the evening. We called the ambulance as my wife was giving birth. Two hours passed and nothing; it did not show up,” Abu Ezz, one of the camp’s residents, said, explaining that he had to walk several kilometres to the main gate of the camp to hail a taxi.

“But it was too late, I lost my son, who was born dead,” he added.

Though this happened two years ago, “it is still affecting us”, Abu Ezz told The Jordan Times. 

Abu Ezz, who works for a humanitarian agency in the camp, has since bought a bicycle.  

“It is the best means of transport to use in an emergency,” he said. 

But for others in the camp, buying a bicycle is an unaffordable dream. 

“It is the dream of each family to own a bicycle now,” said Adham, a Syrian refugee who lives in the camp, some 90km northeast of Amman.

For the 40-year-old father, owning a bicycle in the camp has become a necessity and not a luxury.

“There is one bus here that goes from a certain station in the camp to the shopping mall,” Adham said, explaining that the camp is too big and it is too hot to walk long distances under the sun. 

This was echoed by Mezyed Ghazeyeh who said he is proud that he managed to buy two bicycles.

“I need one and the other is being used by any of my family members according to their needs,” the 62-year old said. 

He said he bought one for JD85 and the other for JD110.

“I am a supervisor of water tanks and receive JD40 every 90 days… this amount of money helped me manage to buy two bicycles,” Ghazeyeh noted.