Working to improve life in the refugee camp: what I aim to do as an environmental engineer.
Sonya works to provide water and sanitation services in Za’atari Refugee Camp for Syrian refugees, located in Jordan. Here we listen to what she aims to realize working to help others, as an environmental engineer.
Sonya Milonova
Environmental engineer
Works as program officer for JEN
Work for people
I was born in a town near Moscow. When I was eight, my family won the “green card lottery” (officially called the Immigrant Diversity Visa) and we moved to Oregon, USA.
As I started life in Oregon, the greenery and natural beauty was very appealing. However, what surprised me about America was the visible divide between the rich and poor. When I was born, Russia was still a socialist state, and even though that divide existed between the people and the government, it was not visible in the streets of my town.
However in America, there were people on the roadside begging for money, while others owned five houses. This disparity surprised me.
Seeing such problems for the first time, I wanted to do something to help the poor. When I was young, I had many dreams, such as becoming an astronaut, a professional tennis player, or a writer, but as time went by, development assistance was one that stuck with me. It was not only the surprise of seeing the disparity of wealth that motivated me, but also the help we received from those around us, neighbors and strangers, when we came to America.
Another field I always wanted to work in was disaster response. I didn’t know why, but every time I saw news about a natural disaster on television, I wanted to be able to go there and help.
At the end of high school, I had trouble deciding my major for university. Since I enjoyed math and science, I wanted to become an engineer, but I had trouble deciding between mechanical and environmental engineering. If I chose mechanical engineering, I could work on alternative sources for energy, while environmental engineering would allow me to work on water and wastewater treatment, which is a big issue in developing communities. In the end, I decided to pursue environmental engineering upon entering Seattle University.
Working in emergency assistance
In university, I volunteered with an organization called Engineers without Borders, where I worked with communities at home and abroad to find engineering solutions for water-related problems. I continued my involvement with this organization during my master’s at the University of Colorado in Boulder, where I participated in a program called, "Engineering for Developing Communities". The aim of the program is to teach engineers the “soft skills” of development work.
During graduate school and from my own experience, I became more pessimistic about the kind of development work I always dreamed of doing. I learned about many failed projects and studied communities where foreign assistance created more problems than it solved.
On the other hand, I felt that the education and skills I gained could be used for emergency assistance in the wake of a natural disaster. I didn’t have as many moral qualms about this kind of work because anyone, anywhere could experience a disaster and need such assistance. I had a strong interest in pursuing disaster response work, but I still wasn’t sure how to do so.
After graduate school, I received a research fellowship at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. While researching engineering interventions to prevent the transmission of tuberculosis, I took classes in the evenings to learn more about humanitarian disaster response. In one class, I learned how to design a refugee camp for 20,000 people, calculating everything necessary for such an operation, such as food and water supply, sanitation services, logistics, and so on.
After that class, there was a three day practical training, which was very intense. I acted as a leader of an international NGO and led a team of my classmates to do a rapid needs assessment and create a response plan, while the volunteers of the simulation constantly changed the situation, confused and distracted us, and attempted to stress us out as much as possible.
Those three days were very hard, but they were exciting and interesting. It was difficult to return to “normal life”, and I vowed to myself that my next job would take me in this direction of work.
After a year, I came to Jordan. I didn't have a job, but my boyfriend was already working in Za’atari Refugee Camp and helped me to make some connections. After a couple of months, I started working for the Japanese NGO, JEN, in the same camp.
Activities in Za’atari Refugee Camp
JEN is responsible for, among other things, the provision of sanitation services, hygiene education, and support of water delivery in three of the 12 districts in the camp. I’m working here as a program officer focused on infrastructure projects and maintenance activities.
We are involved in constructing a simplified sewerage system. First, we connected each household to a septic tank, and now in the next phase of the project, each tank is being connected to the wastewater treatment plant that already exists here in Za’atari. JEN is also involved in the construction of a piped water system. Since the camp’s beginning, the 35 liters of water provided per person per day has been delivered by trucks, but this is costly and unsustainable for a camp housing almost 80,000 people. With a piped water network, we hope to eliminate the need for the trucks and make water delivery more efficient.
Another important project that I'm involved in is the disinfection and repair of both public and private water storage tanks. It may sound simple to clean a water tank, but when you think about the logistics for thousands of tanks, it's actually quite difficult. We have to explain the project and ask permission from each household to disinfect their private tank, make sure they empty the tank before we remove it, shift it to our disinfection area, disinfect and repair it following the proper protocols, and make sure to return the right tank to the right house and re-install it. Meanwhile, we must divert the household's water supply to a public tank nearby, which requires coordination with other organizations who manage the water delivery. However, it's an essential project to ensure the clean water that is delivered is not contaminated by the storage container.
I am also involved in constructing and upgrading toilets for the community. Syrian refugees are very proactive and many built private household toilets by themselves. However, it is harder for female-headed households and those with disabilities, and this is where we help out.
Wanting to improve life within the camp
The work at Za’atari Refugee Camp usually involves a series of troubles every day. Especially troublesome is when the residents move their homes, temporary living structures called caravans, without notifying organizations working in the camp.
We deliver services using an addressing system within the camp, so if people move without telling us, we have a hard time finding them and checking how they're doing. The other day, there was an instance of someone new moving into our district. They were a family with a disabled child and elderly women, and they were not receiving the necessary help until I coincidentally came across them a few days later. Because there is such a great amount of collaboration and communication between organizations to keep track of so many people, things like this happen sometimes. Everything is constantly changing, so it is necessary to update our information regularly. However, I have gotten used to these minor difficulties.
Life in a refugee camp can be quite miserable. I believe the reason for this is because host countries and refugees themselves hope that the camps are a temporary situation, and there is not as much emphasis on comfort and convenience.
However, I have a different opinion. As far as possible, refugee camps should be comfortable. Jordan has a long history with refugees, and unfortunately even if the conflict in Syria is settled, there will be other refugees coming to Jordan, maybe even to Za’atari. Many refugee camps exist for decades.
For that reason, I think it is important to build permanent infrastructure as soon as possible. It can be more comfortable for residents and more sustainable for camp management. I hope to continue to work on infrastructure projects for refugee camps, or I may work on other environment-focused projects. I don’t know what the future holds for me, but in anything I pursue, I wish to continue helping those in need.
Sonya Milonova
Environmental engineer
Works as program officer for JEN
