Family Lives on Buffalos and Its Dung

The drought that hit the countryside of Al-Malikiyah, far north and east of Syria, prompted the buffalo breeders to flee their places in search of pasture and water for their livestock. Umm Hussein went out with her family of 11 people, accompanied by more than 20 buffaloes, and they settled in the countryside of Raqqa, hundreds of kilometers away, after the pastures and water dried up and the area became dry. Umm Hussein’s daughter collects the dung of buffaloes and cows to make small blocks from it and arranges them with the help of the rest of the family around the cooking place, so that they dry out and become ready for use as fuel instead of diesel or gas, and are also used for heating in the winter. The difficult living conditions pushed Abu Hussein and his son to work in different professions because selling milk from cows and buffaloes is not enough to manage their living, according to Umm Hussein, who lives with her children in a dilapidated tent in the middle of the wilderness, amid severe poverty and the difficulty of life in light of this situation, especially with High prices.