(MENAFN- Jordan Times) "I used to play football with my friends; they were like my brothers. Now, I have no idea where they are or if they are even alive," 13-year-old Mohammad Ameen told The Jordan Times outside his tent at the Zaatari Refugee Camp.
At the camp, where UNICEF says around 5,000 Syrian children aged between six and 18 are currently living, young people said that the violence in their country had driven them far from their homes, friends and any sense of normalcy.
Mohammad Majid, who came to Zaatari from Daraa 25 days ago, said he was having trouble making new friends.
"I only have one new friend at the camp. I do not know anyone else because most children stay in their families' tents. Also, most people at the camp are people older than me," the 12-year-old told The Jordan Times.
Sweating in the desert heat, Majid said that summer used to be his favourite season. Not anymore.
"I used to go out to ride my bicycle when I finished school, and hang out with my friends at night. Now, these are only memories," he said.
With a lack of entertainment options at the Zaatari camp and harsh weather keeping them indoors for much of the day, many refugee children suffer from boredom, on top of the trauma and the disorientation of displacement.
"We hardly play football. There is a play area in the camp, but my parents do not let me go there because it is far from our tent and people older than me play there as well," Zakaria Hoshan said.
"My parents do not allow me to go out because they are scared that the heat will affect our health," his 10-year-old cousin said.
In an effort to ease the hardship of refugee life for the camp's young residents, international organisations have created spaces for children to play, UNICEF communication specialist Samir Badran said.
"There are four safe centres supported by the UNICEF at Zaatari camp designed for children to play and learn," Badran said, adding that each of these centres includes three large tents that can accommodate up to 50 children at a time and host recreational programmes supported by UNICEF and implemented by Save the Children.
"It gives them a chance to meet new friends as well," he pointed out.
Education gap
Many of the children at the Zaatari camp have not been to school since even before they fled their countries.
Mustafa Hariri said that he missed his school days, which ended with the start of the conflict in Syria early last year.
"When the violence began, no one dared to go to school," the seven-year-old said.
His mother, who refused to reveal her name, said that with Syrian regime forces firing on demonstrators and doing battle with armed rebels, she had stopped sending her son to school out of fear that he would be caught in the crossfire.
"My husband and I were scared that we would lose our son," she said. "I hope that my child will have the chance to continue his studies in the camp."
Under an agreement signed on Monday by the Bahraini Royal Charity Organisation and the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organisation, which administers the camp, mobile schoolrooms will be set up in the camp for children to continue their disrupted education.
Deprivation
While relief agencies do their best to ensure that the refugees' basic needs are met, the loss of simple luxuries like new clothes and a varied diet has come as a rude shock to many of the camp's younger residents.
Yousef Mohammad said that he missed the simple pleasures of the normal life he enjoyed before the chaos in Syria began.
"Every day, I used to meet my friends and go to the grocery to buy candies. We used to go together to buy new clothes for Eid. This year, we could not do these things because of the violence," he said as he prepared tea outside his family's tent.
"We arrived in Zaatari on the first day of Eid Al Fitr and I did not buy new clothes for this year's holiday."
Some families also complained that their children do not have enough clothing.
Hariri's only clothes are the ones he was wearing when the family fled Syria, his father said, while Rislan Siran said that most of his children did not even have underwear.
Others said that their children were tired of eating the same meal every day.
"Every day, children have chicken and rice. Some children do not like this meal and others like to have vegetables, for example," said a refugee who identified himself as Abu Hassan.
Psychological trauma
Many of the refugee children bear psychological scars from the horrors they witnessed in Syria and the trauma of fleeing their homes.
Abu Hassan said his neighbour's two-year-old child's first word was "tank".
"Normally, the first word children should say is 'mother' or 'father', but our children learned the names of tanks and weapons because that was what their families were talking about," he said.
Hariri indicated that his son's mind had been deeply affected both by the violence he witnessed back home and by the ordeal of fleeing his country.
"When we were forced to leave our home, my son was physically and psychologically exhausted from the journey we took to reach Jordan," he said.
"My son is totally changed: Now, he fears everything."
Badran said relief workers were aware of the psychological traumas these children were facing, explaining that some children exhibited involuntary urination, isolation, or aggressive behaviour when they first arrived at the camp.
"Our centres record these cases and social workers from Save the Children meet with them and help them confront these obstacles," he added.
In spite of everything they have faced, the Syrian children still look forward to returning home and reuniting with their friends.
"I still have a slight hope that I will go back home and play football with my friends and watch FC Barcelona matches together," Majid said.
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