Like millions in Syria, Umm Abdo and her family had a normal life, a home, jobs, schools – friends and family. Now, they live here – with hundreds of other displaced families in the Al Kous refugee camp.

Umm and her family live at the Al Koer refugee camp, along with hundreds of other displaced families who have fled their former homes and are now living in tents like this one.

Umm explains how she used to live a happy life with her family until bombing forced them out of their home – for the past 4 years she has lived with her disabled husband and 6 children inside a tent.

“We didn’t want for anything – now, securing bread is a problem for us”

Conditions at the displacement camp are harrowing, food is scared, work is hard the winters are cold and the summers are hot.

“The children get sick in the winter, and in the summer we are afraid of fever. We do not rest in the winter, or the summer”.

Umm, her husband and their 6 young children live together inside this tent at the Al Koer Refugee Camp.

Umm Abdo faces many challenges living in the camp, including sourcing and cooking meals for her family.

Using a makeshift open fire sourced from rubbish and rubble, Umm has been forced to cook meals outside to reduce the risk of setting fire to the tent – the only source of shelter. 

Unfortunately, this has not been enough to mitigate the issue of smoke inhalation, Umm says, which is of particular concern as two of her children suffer from Asthma.

Umm Adbo and her family are just one of millions facing the daily challenges of life in displacement camps. Escea and relief aid were able to make life just a little bit easier for Umm and her family in gifting them a Fire for Life stove.

Fire for Life is a not-for-profit initiative that Escea has been working on for over 7 years, after learning about the challenges experienced by millions in displaced communities who were cooking on open fireplaces around the world.

Committed to solving problems in innovative ways Escea used their unique skills and experience find a solution by doing what they do best – making better fires.

Finally, after countless prototypes and hours upon hours of testing, Fire for Life was born, and result was a portable, light weight cooking stove that would be simple to light, require less fuel to burn cleaner, longer and safer than an open fire.

We were happy to hear that the stove had provided a lot of relief for Umm, giving her the freedom to prepare meals for her family without fear of the fire spreading or the smoke causing harm to her children.

“The stove is good, it burns quickly. It is convenient because it does not emit smoke, it is easy to use and I can take it with me wherever I want. I put it out of the sun or in front of the door to watch my children.”

While the stove burns much more efficiently, Umm says they are still in desperate need of assistance when it comes to sourcing fuel, as she often has to resort to burning rubbish salvaged from around the camp.

Find out more about the amazing work relief aid are doing in Syria here.

Or find out more about Fire for Life here.