MAFRAQ, Jordan — When her 12-year-old daughter Uala started bleeding, Siam thought it was her period. But after 45 days, it was clear something was wrong with her. It was August 2017, and Siam and her daughter were working in a greenhouse in one of the hundreds of farms in the Mafraq area of northern Jordan. In summer, temperatures reach 35 or 40 degrees Celsius (95 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit), usually 10 more inside the greenhouse.

Siam is from Aleppo. Five years ago she had no choice but to join her husband, who had already been working in Mafraq since 2005. Over the past few years, Syrian women picking tomatoes or cucumbers have become a common sight in the fields of Badia Shmali, as this area is called.

The pay for Syrians is the same anywhere: 1 Jordanian dinar ($1.41) per hour, pushing entire families, children included, to work 10 to 12 hours a day, depending on the weather.

“At first it was very hard. My husband and I cried when we had to send our 11-year-old daughter to work,” Siam told Al-Monitor. But going back to Syria was not an option. Siam ended up marrying off her eldest daughter last year when she turned 15 so that she could stop working in the fields. It was Uala's turn to replace her, at least until last year.