For ten years, 55 families have lived in makeshift tents on the outskirts of Ar-Raqqa. They fled the city of Homs, just a four-hour drive away, yet none of the 328 people in the camp have returned since their escape.
Life in Dahmoush has been a struggle. Most residents survive as day laborers, but work is scarce, and without humanitarian aid, there is not enough food or water to sustain the community.
A new beginning: Skills training and economic opportunity
In August 2024, DanChurchAid stepped in to provide critical support. Before then, many of the families lived in tents made from old, sewn-together clothing. Isolated from the surrounding villages, the displaced families had little hope of rebuilding their lives.
Through vocational training, DCA has helped residents gain new skills—and a chance at financial independence. For 27-year-old Artifa Al-Naser, this support has changed everything. A single mother of a seven-year-old son, Artifa has started her own soap-making business, selling her handmade products to people from neighboring villages.
“I fled with my son from the war, and we survived on dry bread. When we first arrived at the camp, we didn’t even have a tent—we lived on rice and water,” she recalls.
Today, Artifa earns Around 67 Euro per month from her soap-making business, which is enough to support herself and her son and cover additional expenses.
Beyond survival: Rebuilding lives
DCA has also helped create a community center, offering psychosocial support for both children and adults. After years of living in war-torn uncertainty, many residents still struggle with trauma, as refugees from war, as survivors of ISIS, and as families who have endured a decade of hopelessness in tents.
In addition, DCA has provided new, durable tents, replacing the fragile fabric shelters that once offered little protection against rain, freezing temperatures, and extreme heat. For the families in Dahmoush, these changes represent more than just survival. They are a step toward reclaiming dignity, stability, and hope for the future.
In Syria’s displacement camps, life is marked by loss, uncertainty, and survival, but also by resilience. Across informal settlements near Ar-Raqqa, families are doing their best to rebuild from the ruins of war.
Surviving war, finding hope: Families struggle for a future in Syria’s displacement camps
Inside a 10-square-meter tent, 23-year-old Yasmin Mahmoud Al-Bader sits with her four children and her husband, 29-year-old Abraz Ali Saloum. Their only protection against the freezing cold is a single blanket, one of the few items they received along with their tent from DCA.
For Yasmin, displacement is all she has ever known. She fled her home as a child and has lived in a tent since she was 11 years old.
Now, her own children are facing the same fate, with no possibility of returning home.
“Our family’s house in Homs is in ruins. If we went back, we would still have to live in a tent. And besides, the area is filled with landmines,” she says.
But for Yasmin, the hardest part is the uncertainty of her children’s future. In the Dahmoush camp, there are no schools, leaving her five-year-old son and his siblings without education.
Yasmin herself once dreamed of becoming a doctor, but war took away her chance to finish school. She fears her children will never even get the opportunity to start.
Her husband, Abraz, takes occasional farm work, earning 4 to 7 Euro per day, but work is rare. He has been unemployed for the past two months.
“Before the war, we had a farm with olive trees, firewood, and a future. Now, it’s all gone,” he says.
Yet, despite everything, they refuse to lose hope. Yasmin and Abraz teach their children what little they remember from their own schooling, hoping to prepare them for a better future.
“I hope my children can grow up as I did, but without their lives being destroyed by war,” says Abraz.
Hamda’s handmade hope: Creativity as a lifeline
In the same camp, 37-year-old Hamda Mohammad Al-Hasin has found a way to provide for her family – through sewing children’s clothes.
She and her husband distribute bread in the camp, but it’s her ability to make clothes for her children that brings her the most joy.
It is heartwarming to see my children wearing the clothes I make for them. Their smiles when they receive something new from me mean everythingHamda
Through a DCA training program, she learned to sew and now creates dresses, bags, and other clothing for children in the camp. With a 1.80 Euro spool of yarn, she can knit three dresses, each selling for 4.60 Euro, which has become a vital source of income in a place where opportunities are scarce.
“Making clothes helps our economy. It also lets me be creative, something that is almost impossible in this camp,” she says.
It takes her a full day to complete one dress, but each piece represents a step toward self-sufficiency.
Shlash camp: The children who dream of school
In the Shlash refugee camp, on the outskirts of Raqqa, 494 children have grown up without access to formal education. The only chance they have to learn is when temporary schools open through humanitarian projects, but these are unreliable and infrequent.
“I have only been to school for six months in my entire life. I miss it so much because learning is fun,” says 10-year-old Nahla, who has lived in the camp for seven years with her parents and four siblings.
To give children a sense of normalcy, DCA has created a child-friendly space where kids can draw, play, and receive psychosocial support. Twice a week, they gather for art activities, games, and music sessionsm which are a rare opportunity to express themselves in a safe environment.
For Nahla and 9-year-old Rowa, drawing has become a way to process their emotions.
“I have drawn faces that show my feelings, such as sadness, anger, happiness, and fear,” says Rowa, who has lived in the camp with her six siblings for most of her life. She draws her emotions as princesses because she loves fairy tales.
Still, her biggest wish is simple:
“I want to go back to school. I want to be a teacher when I grow up. But we don’t have a school here, and the nearest one is too far away.”
For children like Nahla and Rowa, the DCA child-friendly space is more than just a tent. It is a place where they can still be kids.
About the project:
- Full title: Empowering and strengthening community resilience in NES
- Period: July 2024 – December 2024
- Amount: 1,700,000 DKK
- Number of people reached by end of project: 2,204 (949 males, 1,255 females).
- Theme: Building Resilience
- Donor: DANIDA
