Jordan, Zaatari Refugee Camp, 14 April 2013
Humanitarian needs, especially food, are growing across Syria as shortages of bread and fuel set in and countless families are displaced. WFP is reaching about 1.5 million people monthly in Syria and, as thousands more Syrians pour into neighboring countries, we are also responding to the needs of refugees in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey. The ongoing political and security crisis in Syria has led to a deterioration in the country's socio-economic conditions, particularly food security. Since March 2011, thousands of Syrians have crossed into Jordan to seek a safe haven. Many of these refugees are in need of humanitarian assistance, including food and shelter. Prices of commodities are higher in Jordan than Syria, limiting the purchasing power of Syrian refugees in Jordan. As of 15 January 2013, more than 134,000 Syrians were registered with the UN Refugee UNHCR, while over 51,000 are awaiting registration. The majority of the Syrian refugees in Jordan are hosted by local communities in urban areas. Others are hosted in refugee camps such as the Zaatari camp. According to the Government of Jordan, more than 300,000 Syrians have entered the country.
Every day before the sun comes up, three trucks from WFPs contracted bakeries Jawad and Luminus begin their journey in the darkness to deliver 17.5 tonnes of freshly baked bread to feed the entire population of Syrian refugees in Zaatari Camp, Jordan. (To put this into perspective, this is equivalent of more than 100 twenty-foot containers full of bread stacked on top of each other every month).
The trucks have to reach the camp between 6:00 and 6:30 am in order for the bread to be offloaded and made ready for the 7:00 am daily distribution. To meet the increasing needs at the camp, the bakeries have to begin baking the bread at 11 pm the night before. Baking takes place through the night and is completed by 3:30 am. It is then carefully loaded onto the trucks for d