(MENAFN- Jordan Times) A collection of foam mattresses and UN-issued canvas sheets propped up under the sun - little distinguishes Mohammad's temporary home from the hundreds of tents that make up the Zaatari Refugee Camp.
But one thing draws residents from across the sprawling camp to line up in front of the 11-year-old's humble dwelling day after day.
"People just can't get enough cigarettes," Mohammad said.
The Daraa teenager is one of a rising number of Syrian "merchants" in Zaatari as residents convert their tents into makeshift grocery stores, vegetable stands and even electronics repair shops in order to meet the growing demands of the 35,000-strong refugee community.
However, as residents' limited funds dwindle and the flow of goods into the camp slows to a trickle, Zaatari's more entrepreneurial Syrian refugees say their newfound businesses may soon become the latest victims of the ongoing violence in their homeland.
According to traders, the origins of the so-called "Zaatari market" stretch back to the first batches of residents when the camp opened in July, many of whom carried with them months' worth of supplies they had accumulated in Jordan.
Renowned regionally as astute businessmen and women, it was only a matter of time before the displaced Syrians began putting their entrepreneurial skills to work.
"Many of the first residents came with extra cigarettes, phone cards and tea," said Abu Mohammed as he crouched next to a stack of Syrian and Jordanian phone cards resting atop an upturned cardboard box in front of his tent.
"It was only natural for people to trade."
Rather than standard commercial activity, residents say the early Zaatari market more closely resembled a "swap meet", as residents bartered items of equal estimated value. Cigarette cartons were traded for phone cards, mobile phones were swapped for gas heaters; even sandals and infant diapers changed hands from tent to tent.
"It was as if a day wouldn't go by without someone trading something for another," said Abu Yousef, a Daraa resident, who at six weeks is considered one of the camp's veterans.
But as the number of new arrivals grew from the hundreds to the thousands and the camp expanded deeper into the northern Jordanian desert, traders began setting fixed prices for their goods - all in Syrian pounds.
"If you close your eyes and lower your expectations," Abu Mohammed said as he pointed to a row of makeshift shops now known as the Hamidiya Souk, "it is as if you are in Damascus."
The trade provides a modest source of income for merchants, who say they rake in some JD3-JD5 in profits each day. Unable to leave the camp and with few goods to purchase within Zaatari, traders say they spend half of their earnings to expand their product line, saving the other half for their eventual return journey home.
"We are not going to be rich by the time we leave, but if we can buy new clothes before we go home, we will be happy," Abu Yousef said.
Many of them former shopkeepers, merchants and importers, Zaatari's traders say commercial activity comes as "second nature" to them with their new makeshift businesses offering a glimmer of normalcy in their lives in refuge.
"I open my stand each morning and take inventory each night, just as if I was back in Homs," said Mohammed Homsawi, who since his arrival to Jordan has downsized from his textiles outlet to a simple chips and water-bottle stand at the camp's entrance.
"It is as if I am back in business."
Yet no amount of experience could prepare the region's most astute traders from the challenges posed by doing business in the camp.
The limited goods that enter the camp are sold at a premium - tomatoes are distributed at over JD1 per kilo, twice the Amman rate - and infrequently.
"Some days go by where all the tomatoes spoil before I make a sale," Mohammed Darwai said as he paced in front of his modest tomato and eggplant stand.
"If nobody can afford a tomato, what hope is there for us?"
Traders say shipments of Syrian cigarettes and other items illicitly brought into the camp by workers flood the Zaatari market, pushing the price well below market value and forcing merchants to sell their product at a loss.
"One day people are fighting over cigarettes, the next day we are drowning in them," said Mohammed.
"You wake up each morning just hoping that you don't lose everything."
As more and more Syrians convert their tents into businesses, Zaatari traders say the competition has also become stiff - and fierce.
Mohammed claims that he awoke one morning last week to discover his cardboard stand demolished and his cigarettes methodically broken in two and strewn across the ground, blowing his mini-cigarette empire into the desert winds.
Although the camp administration has yet to apprehend the perpetrator, Mohammed said he is "100 per cent certain" that the culprit is a rival merchant.
"Nowadays, people will stop at nothing to make a sale," he said as he stacked a new stock of Syrian cigarette packs on his newly refurbished stand.
As their commercial activities are not in violation of camp regulations, Zaatari officials are allowing the merchants to continue their day-to-day operations without interference.
Despite the growing hardships, the refugee traders vowed to open their nascent establishments each day in a show of defiance to Damascus that although their livelihoods may be gone, their entrepreneurial spirit lives on.
"Even though the regime took everything away from us, it cannot stop us from making a living," Homsawi said as he bagged a handful of tomatoes that represented his first sale of the day.
"No one can put a price on that."
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