How ‘Family Superhero’ helped parents overcome life’s stress in Za’atari Camp
Syrian parents in Za’atari Refugee Camp are highly burdened, as they must provide for their children’s essential needs, but do so from the scarcity of resources available in the camp; male parents and caregivers in particular are under severe pressure to provide for the family’s needs. Ahmad Hijazi, a male parent residing in Za’atari camp who has three children that he loves very much, says, “I sometimes feel very angry and anxious about being unable to respond to my children’s needs within the camp’s environment and scarce resources.” He mentions, “I feel overwhelmed with anxiety and I don’t know how to get rid of my tensions and agitation.”
To heighten the stress for parents in Za’atari Camp, the restrictions on movement that the Jordanian Government imposed last year in response to the COVID‑19 breakout inside the camps, brought more economic and social burdens for families. Because whole families have to stay inside their caravans for long hours, family disputes increase, including disputes between male adolescents and their sisters, due to their inability to go out. For many Syrian parents, this is a critical concern and they are continuously challenged with dissolving disputes between siblings at home. Moreover, there are fewer job opportunities and everyday parents are challenged with finding a job to support the urgent needs of their families.
Mercy Corps, through generous support from SHELL and Source of Hope Foundation, is implementing the Superhero program. One of its ultimate goals is to reduce parents’ profound stress and to equip them with the necessary knowledge and skills, to support them in building positive and healthy relationships with their children. The structured sessions in the program utilize cognitive and behavioral therapy, to introduce parents to ways of dealing with profound stress.This could influence their relationship with their children, by building their knowledge of children’s developmental stages.
Ahmad mentions, “I was introduced to the Family Superhero program through a friend, who helped me register for the program. I heard that this program tackles issues related to our daily life hardships and how to overcome them, and I was longing to join a program that would help reduce tensions in my daily life.” Ahmad continues, “I benefited greatly from the information that I received on the program and logged in my journal. My family started to notice the positive change in my reactions and in controlling my anger when dealing with my children.”
According to Waseem Al Hassan, Family Superhero facilitator with Mercy Corps, “The program seeks to reduce the violent behavior of parents in the Zaatari camp, by replacing irrational thoughts with rational ones, and negative parenting approaches with positive parenting techniques.” He adds, “I received previous training on positive parenting and I would like for the others from the local community to benefit the way I did.”
Moreover, Mercy Corps is firm about adapting the Family Superhero curricula to ensure it aligns and addresses participants’ needs that are related to their current challenges, concerns, and interests. For example, the program provided new awareness sessions on health prevention amidst the COVID‑19 breakout and lockdown period and shifted all activities to virtual implementation through two WhatsApp groups for the caregivers– one for females and one for males. In Za’atari camp there were a total of 56 registered participants (28 female, 28 male) in 2020.
Ibrahim Mansour, another participant from Family Superhero shared his part of the story, “This program has helped me by turning my negative thoughts into positive ones. It helped me in numerous ways including how to sit and interact with my children, how to treat them well, and how to adjust my mindset. Now, I avoid treating my children negatively, and I focus on enhancing their self-confidence and giving them full trust instead. I let them feel that I’m with them and not against them as I have done previously, and I have strategies to avoid getting angry with them and starting fights.”
Ahmad Hijazi finally concludes, “I encourage every resident of Za’atari Camp to join the Family Superhero program because it incorporates valuable information that we all overlook within the family setting. Thank you so much to Mercy Corps for providing such great sessions and for the great facilitator.”
Family Superhero is part of Mercy Corps Jordan’s Ishrak program. Ishrak, meaning ‘Engagement’, is a family strengthening project that provides psychosocial support to fortify bonds between family members in stressful situations. We work in the Azraq and Za’atari refugee camps, providing creative ways for caregivers and children to connect, play, and build positive relationships. Each of the program components is designed to work together towards the broader goal of increasing family resilience to extreme stress and creating an environment in which children are protected and able to thrive. By focusing holistically on all generations of the family, including elders and non-parental caregivers, the program supports whole communities’ resilience. The program draws on the latest evidence from neuroscience and attachment theory to underpin all activities.