Syrian women at the Zaatari camp create beauty based business

Record ID: 1110990

  • Title: Syrian women at the Zaatari camp create beauty based business
  • Date: 4th April 2018
  • Summary: MAFRAQ, JORDAN (MARCH 29, 2018) (REUTERS) SYRIAN REFUGEE, AHLAM YOUNIS, CARRYING TRAY OF PERFUMES INSIDE HER CARAVAN AT ZAATARI CAMP YOUMIS SETTING PERFUMES AND OILS ON TABLE YOUNIS WORKING / NIECE SITTING NEXT TO HER OILS AND PERFUMES VARIOUS OF YOUNIS MIXING OILS AND SCENTS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SYRIAN REFUGEE, AHLAM YOUNIS, SAYING: "At the beginning, I did not have any e
  • Embargoed: 18th April 2018 11:02
  • Keywords: Refugee women in Zaatari camp create beauty business Syrian women Zaatari camp soap perfume business beauty
  • Location: MAFRAQ, JORDAN
  • City: MAFRAQ, JORDAN
  • Country: Jordan
  • Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0018A0IEZ9
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Fresh scents of soap and perfume escape the tiny caravans in the Zaatari refugee camp, as Syrian women create and sell beauty products to support themselves and their families.
    Ahlam Younis, 35, said she started producing perfumes after taking a course offered by an aid agency in the camp.
    Younis said she finally felt like she had a purpose and a goal, after starting her business.
    She fled her hometown Deraa in 2013 and ended up in Jordan's Zaatari refugee camp. But being displaced has not curtailed Younis's ambitions.
    Her dream is to launch a perfume label named after her, "Ahlam", and she hopes that her future brand will be well-known across the Arab world.
    She sells a perfume bottle for around $7 inside the camp, but makes exceptions and discounts for people who can't afford them.
    The Zaatari camp, once an empty desert, has been transformed into a bustling slum city, with a population of around 85,000 people.
    But living conditions for people inside remain tough. According to figures released by the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR in 2016, 93 percent of Syrians in Jordan live below the national poverty line of $88 per person per month.
    For Hana Mohammed, it was the difficult living conditions inside the camp that pushed her to start making and selling soap.
    The 40-year-old mother of three said it was difficult to market her product at first, but positive reviews from customers and word-of-mouth made her soaps very popular.
    Her best-selling product is the lemon-based soap, which promises to brighten and moisturise the skin.
    Mohammed sells her products for $1-3 and has sold around 100 pieces of soap a month since starting her project.
    In 2017, the Jordanian government said the country is home to 1.4 million Syrians, of whom more than 660,000 are registered with the U.N. refugee agency.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2018. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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