Cooking programme builds stories of hope, solidarity among Jordanians, Syrians

AMMAN — A Jordanian cook heading a cooking training programme in Amman said that meeting Syrian refugee women helped her overcome her initial misconceptions about the refugee crisis.

Striving to make ends meet for her family of five children, Manal H. does not hide her initial concerns as Syrian refugees started to arrive in Jordan, saying she “feared for her job” due to increased competition.

Head cook at the Families Development Association (FDA) in Amman, the mother of five provides training to hundreds of beneficiaries, according to a successful model replicated in various governorates across Jordan. 

“When Syrians started to arrive in Jordan, I had bad feelings about them — especially that they are competing with us for jobs,” Manal recounted, stressing that “I highly depend on my income as a cook to support my five children in east Amman”.

However, she said everything changed after she met and started working with Syrian refugee women like her new colleague Eqbal. “My feelings have changed and I strongly believe Syrians have the right to work and live a decent life,” she underscored.

“It is such a pleasure to work with Eqbal. We share different Syrian and Jordanian recipes. Eqbal has taught me about Syrians’ traditions for weddings, Ramadan and other occasions and it is really nice to learn more about Syria,” the head cook continued, noting that she even visited her new workmate in her apartment where she got to meet her family and “drink the delicious tea that is popular in Syria: mate”.

A refugee who fled Homs, in Syria, in 2013, Eqbal said her life drastically changed when she got to Jordan. “Before the war, our situation in Syria was good. I didn’t have to cook and clean — I had other people to do that for me,” she remembered.

But, after Eqbal was introduced to the FDA, she started enjoying the cooking training she received, and the friends she made there.

Established in 1999, the FDA is a non-governmental organisation aimed at empowering women by helping them develop skills needed in the modern workplace and increasing their awareness of their rights, according to its website. 

In the FDA headquarters in Amman’s Jabal Al Qusur area, the cooking training programme has benefited over 800 women, 75 per cent of whom have gone on to successfully join the workforce, according to the FDA.

“I am happy in Jordan. The people around me, especially at work, are so supportive and kind. There is no racism here in our kitchen,” Eqbal said, adding, “I think I will stay in Jordan. I have nothing left back in Syria — my house has been destroyed and my family has left.”

Under the cooking training programme, the FDA established a student cafeteria at Al Hussein Bin Talal University, staffed wholly by its female trainees like Eqbal. The model was later replicated in various poverty pockets across Jordan, training some 60 women in Maan, 20 women in Ajloun and 40 women in Southern Ghor.