( CNN ) Abu Mohamad just wanted to sell some pizza . An electrician-turned-entrepreneur , he knew his upstart pizza parlor needed a kick . So Abu Mohamad came up with the idea of using bikes to bring his customers their margarita , za'atar and mince pies . `` We had to adapt , '' he said . It 's not just about coming up with business innovations or delivery options . Thinking outside the box becomes a necessity when you 're essentially living in boxes like Abu Mohamad and more than 83,000 others like him , who fled their homes in war-ravaged Syria and settled across the border in northern Jordan 's Zaatari refugee camp . The camp began in July 2012 as a small patch of tents for scared and worn Syrians . As the refugees ' numbers grew , their perspectives changed . The civil war in their homeland was n't going away anytime soon , and neither were they . So these resilient Syrians went to work . For men like Abu Mohamad , who , like other refugees , prefers not to be identified by his full name , there was n't much choice but to adjust to their new lives , new livelihoods and new ways of doing things . `` I could n't sit and wait for the situation to change , '' said Abu Mohamad . `` We always want more for our families . '' INTERACTIVE MAP : Syrians turn Zaatari into a home . They 've gotten it . Abu Mohamad 's business is booming , with up to 50 deliveries a day to humanitarian workers , government officials and fellow refugees . And in many ways , Zataari -- their new home -- is thriving as well . Almost anything is better than what they left behind . Syria 's civil war has been raging since 2011 , when a government crackdown on protests in Daraa spiraled into a full-blown armed conflict . Few areas have been spared by gunfire , bombing , airstrikes , even reported chemical attacks . The violence comes not just from troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad -- who has been criticized and isolated by much of the world -- but a number of rebel groups , some of them considered moderates and others extremists , like the al Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front and ISIS . The impact on civilians has been horrific . Staffan de Mistura , the United Nations special envoy for Syria , reported in January that some 220,000 people had been killed and 1 million wounded . Some 7.6 million have been displaced because of the fighting , with the return of polio , typhoid and measles to Syria symptomatic of the health crisis there . The war has also produced 3.3 million refugees , most of whom ended up in camps in Turkey , Lebanon , Iraq and Jordan . At least in Zaatari -- which , within its packed 1.3 square miles , is already one of the world 's largest refugee camps and ranks as Jordan 's fourth largest city , according to the United Nations -- refugees have taken matters into their own hands by transforming their new home . `` They realized they were going to be in Jordan longer than they first thought , '' U.N. refugee agency official Nasser Touaibia said . `` ( They ) could not sit around and do nothing . '' For proof of what they 've done , look no farther than the Champs-Elysees . No , not the iconic boulevard in Paris , though the common name is a nod to that street and a reflection of Syrians ' sense of humor . That 's also the name of the Zaatari camp 's now vibrant main drag . It 's lined by mobile phone shops , mini markets , welding shops , barbers , fruit and vegetable stalls -- just about anything you can think of . This Champs-Elysees is a place where Syrians can make a little money , get what they need and , perhaps , restore some of their hope for the future . While non-governmental organizations and the United Nations are active in Zataari , and their employees even do some shopping there themselves , the more than 2,000 stores and such are made and run by refugees . Business is so brisk that a new road , Saudi Street , has popped up to accommodate new ventures . Touaibia estimates the Syrian refugees there generate approximately $ 10 million dollars a month in revenues . This does n't necessarily make up for the larger strain that refugees have had on Jordan 's economy , with an April 2014 International Monetary Fund report calling the overall impact `` negative . '' Still , that same report also said , `` Increased consumption brought about by a sizable influx of Syrian refugees has contributed positively to economic activity . '' And any economic activity is a plus for the Syrian refugees , two-thirds of whom live below the national poverty line and one in six who live in abject poverty , according to the United Nations . That 's why Syrians like Abu Mohamad and humanitarian officials like Touaibia are pleased with what 's happening in Zataari . While its residents ' lives have been far from happy or normal of late , the refugee camp -- more and more -- is becoming just that . As Touaibia said , `` It is like any downtown , in any city , in the world . ''
More than 83,000 refugees live in the Zataari refugee camp in northern Jordan , he says . The refugees have set up and run more than 2,000 businesses in the crowded camp . ` ` I could n't sit and wait for the situation to change , '' says the entrepreneurial man .