Day 6 & 7

Day 6: Food Parcel Distribution
3/16/16

Today we were supposed to distribute 200 food parcels to the Syrian refugees with another 50 to be dispersed by Humanitarian Family Aid (HFA). We went to the supermarket which was providing us with the food parcels. When we arrived at 8AM we discovered that the driver for the truck we were taking had still not arrived. After a half hour of waiting, we were really worried because we still had no word on when he was expected to arrive. Every time we asked when he would be arriving, we were told “5 minutes”. After an hour and a half of waiting and increasing pressure on the vendor, he contacted another driver to help us deliver the food parcels.
Finally, at 10AM, our new driver arrived and everyone quickly loaded up the truck. We were two hours behind schedule and stressed about how we would get this accomplished today. We could have delivered all of the food parcels to the center in Al-Azraq and have the Syrian refugees make the trip over to pick them up but we did not want to make their lives more difficult than they are. We were worried the team we were meeting at Al-Azraq might not let us complete the deliveries today because we had lost so much time. As it gets darker in the area, it becomes harder to drive on the roads and safety is always a concern.
We finally arrived at 1PM and started distribution that afternoon. On all of these distribution runs there are three vehicles; one vehicle which leads the team to the family locations, the truck carrying the merchandise, and the car with PACE and HFA volunteers. Many of the routes were rocky and made it very difficult for the smaller cars in our convoy.
As we pulled up to each site the families would rush out to greet us. They would be asked for their names and how many family members they had. When they gave us the answer, a women from the center would check her list and verify the information. This was to ensure families were receiving sufficient parcels. Each food parcel feeds a family of six for a month. So for example, if there are nine family members, they received two parcels.
We were amazed to see small children working together to lift these heavy boxes and carry them back to their tents and even more amazed by a pregnant woman we met, who had to be in her eighth month of pregnancy, who despite this lifted a box and carried it on top of her head as she walked back home. We struggled to lift and move the same parcels. 
After distributing a total 124 food parcels, our truck driver started to give us issues eventually refusing to continue with the distribution. He claimed that the roads were causing damage to his truck due to their poor conditions. It was also very late at that point and the remaining families were further out. The team wanted to continue on and tried to have the truck driver continue, but he refused. We were forced to stop distribution and decided we would have to complete this on Saturday after the school opening and fun day for the students. Friday was not an option since the center was closed that day.


Day 7: Preparation for Final Day
3/17/16
Since we could not carry out any distributions today, we prepped for our final day. We went over our interviews and each family’s medical problems as they told us in them, searched for the medicines they stated they used, and the best price we could find for them. Later we purchased the snacks for the fun day.

-Yasmen Bagh