Mounera Ayoub, a Syrian refugee living in Camden, hasn't been to a salon since leaving Egypt.
VOORHEES TWP. -- The war in Syria has taken a lot from Mounera Ayoub, 48, a refugee who has lived in Camden for the last six months.
It took her three brothers and her mother, killed in their home in 2014. It took her family's sense of safety and basic necessities.
"We are afraid all the time," she recalled of the war. "No food, no water, no anything."
Mounera Ayoub, right, is pictured with CommUNITY SJP co-founder Medeeha Khan at a family night event the nonprofit put on April 30, 2017. Ayoub, her husband and their two sons fled to Egypt three years ago. They were able to come to the United States in October.
"Here, we feel [the] opposite: Safety," she said.
Her focus since coming here has been on getting her sons settled in school, learning English, trying to build a new life and to decide what sort of job she could get here.
Getting her hair done at the salon is not on her to-do list at all.
That's why two nonprofits teamed up to put on an event Sunday to treat 37 local women who are refugees from Syria to a day at the salon. They each got a free haircut, blow-dry, and gift bags full of beauty products and books and toys for their kids.
"With Mother's Day a week away, we thought this was a nice way to make them feel special," said Tara Smith, a spokeswoman for Fearless Beauty, one of the nonprofits that put on the event.
It was a day to relax, get pampered, and share a meal and conversation -- in their native language -- with fellow refugees who understand what they're going through.
While waiting to have their hair done, they sat chatting in the hair-dryer seats. A few brought their babies, and the infants were passed around to get kissed and admired.
Several translators were available to help those who are still learning English to communicate with their stylists as they trimmed, curled and straightened their hair.
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Dr. Hafeza Shaikh, who helped organize the event, said inspiration struck when she was having her hair done by Heather Packer at Cutler Salon in New York City.
Packer is the founder of Fearless Beauty, a nonprofit that provides haircutting training for impoverished women in India so they can support themselves.
Shaikh, a cardiologist at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden, is a co-founder of CommUNITY SJP. The nonprofit aims to bring people in the South Jersey and Philadelphia areas together through community service and it has provided assistance to families resettling in the region.
In the CommUNITY SJP has collected donations for the refugee families and hosted social events, like a recent roller skating event, to get them out of the house and having fun. The group recently bought Ayoub a bus ticket so she could visit her sister, who has been living in Albany.
Shaikh said that the families CommUNITY SJP assists live in Camden and Burlington counties, but women from Union and Middlesex Counties made the trip for the event Sunday.
She said that in her experience, the women are working hard to get their families acclimated and a haircut is not a priority. "The last thing they're going to do is take care of themselves," she said.
And the issue isn't just finding the time to get a cut. All 37 women at Sunday's event wear hijab -- a headscarf to cover their hair whenever men are around -- so they can't just walk into any salon in town.
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Sunday's event was only open to women, including the stylists and volunteers, so the refugees were able to remove their hijab and get their hair done.
In Syria and other predominantly Muslim countries, there are female-only salons. Shaikh said that they exist in the U.S., too, but a woman might have to drive hours to find one.
Ayoub said that since coming to the U.S., she has relied on her husband to cut her hair.
A chance to be welcoming
Packer said the event was the first her nonprofit has organized within the U.S. other than fundraisers, she said. "It's such an opportunity for us to be supportive of women and the women who maybe need the most friendship and support," she said.
For her part, Ayoub said that she has met many nice people in the U.S., including an American woman who helps her with her English. Learning the language is important because she wants to find a job.
"In United States, work is hard for me," Ayoub said. She was a teacher in Syria, and she's hoping maybe one day to find work in a preschool or as an aide in a school.
Her sons go to school in Camden and learned the language quickly. She said they help her communicate with people at the supermarket or other places.
"They laugh when I speak English," she said, grinning, and they point out her mistakes.
And while the family is trying to build a life here, Ayoub said she'd still rather be back in Syria -- the Syria she remembers from before the war.
"I hope [to] go to Syria when the war finishes," she said.
Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.