I was in Amman, Jordan in the middle of April, and took the opportunity to try to learn more about the situation of Syrian refugees there. I spent two days visiting families living in the huge Zaatari refugee camp and living in Amman. This short period of time hardly makes me an expert, but thanks to the wonderful Jordanians who helped me do this, I was able to learn some things and form some impressions that I would like to share with you.

Jordan, one of the smallest countries in the Middle East by population, and one of the poorer countries, is truly overwhelmed by refugees. The population of the country is a little less than 8 million. Add to that 1 million refugees. Imagine if the US had admitted 35 million refugees over the last four years. That is Jordan’s situation. The influx is causing tremendous strains on the school system. adding about 10% to the total number of pupils (150,000 refugee children are in school in Jordan — only 60% of the total number eligible). Refugees are not legally allowed to work, but many are desperate to supplement the very inadequate amounts of aid they receive. The result is that wages in the informal sector of the economy have gone down and unemployment is up. Domestic pressure has recently led Jordan to limit drastically the number of refugees it allows to cross the border from Syria. In February it was reported that 27,000 people were stuck at the border waiting to cross.

It’s not easy to get to the camps or meet the refugees scattered across Amman. I relied on Jordanians who have been working to document the refugee situation. I was able to visit the Zaatari camp with the help of Ibrahim Shahin, a filmmaker and Ibaa who translated for me. I met people in Amman through Mohammad Massad, a journalist and his amazing sister Wafaa who translated for me.

Ibrahim

Ibaa

Mohammad

Wafaa

Lives on hold

Day One - April 11, 2016: Zaatari Refugee Camp

First impression -- dust, more dust, and sprawl.  We are in the desert and enter thru two checkpoints manned by UNHCR police.  At the first there is one armored personnel carrier, but only one so I don't think this is really a highly militarized situation.  Some of the camp is fenced with chain link fence, some of that with barbed wire on the top but not all of the camp.  I was told police patrol the area that is open but I didn't see them.   Nonetheless, it is a prison, to leave, you must apply for a permit that is good for 15  days. The number of permits is limited so people queue for them, sleeping overnight in the

line.  If you don't honor the conditions of the permit, you lose your refugee status -- a huge problem because you lose the right to healthcare, education, food stipends, monetary relief payments, etc.   It's a Scandinavian style prison.  Many efforts are made to provide for people's welfare --  education (there are differing opinions from people about the quality), healthcare reform (pretty basic in the clinics but people are referred to hospitals when needed), a monthly food aid loaded onto a debit card (although you have to shop at a store run by a  Safeway Dubai so there is a profit margin), free daily bread and water distributions, basic sanitation, and basic temporary living quarters.  What is missing?  No internet, limited electricity (4 pm to 12 pm), little or no cultural activities, and I did not see any signs of TV.  Most of the housing is in "caravans" which are basically oversized metal containers.  They are bitterly cold in the winter although the families have gas heaters.  Most of the roads are unpaved and all the caravans and tents stand on bare soil which turns to mud when the winter rains come.  And the housing must also be unbearably hot in the summer.  With no electricity during the day, you can’t even run a fan. Today, a spring day, was pleasant but very dusty. Families outside the camp (85% of refugees live outside the camps) can apply for a permit to visit. Despite its huge size (3 square miles) , transportation inside the camp is very limited.  Women mostly walk although there is the occasional taxi and, I was told, a bus although I never saw it.  Men and boys walk or ride bicycles.  Getting to the stores, schools, health clinics or other services can entail a long walk. The supermarket, for example, the only place people can spend their food coupons, is at the edge of the camp so it might be a walk of several miles to get there.

Outer walls of the campEntrance to Zaatari Camp

Walk down the Champs Elysees. It’s a very long Main Street of the camp lined with stores of all descriptions.  Bakeries, clothing stores, cobblers, perfumeries, grocery stores, bicycle repair shops, etc.  They are all housed in the same metal containers as are used for housing.  Initially the camp administration set them up and allocated them to residents who wanted to start a business. Now they are traded.   We stopped at a wedding

store.  They sell or rent wedding dresses (mostly rent) and offer hairdressing and cosmetic services to the bride.  The shop has been open four years.  At first there were many weddings.  Now there are fewer in the camp.  A lot of women marry to get out of the camp and so weddings are elsewhere.  (There are many stories of families arranging marriages for their daughters as young as 16 just to secure their future). There is no wedding hall in the camp.  If people marry they have to hold the wedding in their caravan, which limits how many guests can come.  And people from outside the camp have to get a permit to attend.  Also stopped at a store selling perfume, cosmetics, shampoo, etc. and stuffed

animals.  (Children in Zaatari camp don't need contributions of teddy bears, they can get them at the store!). 

My last visit on the Champs Elysse was a bakery which is run by four brothers.  I had met them earlier but they insisted I come back after their pastries had come out of the oven so I could try them. The whole family were farmers in Daraa province in Syria.  Now they are bakers to support the 50 people in the family, 25 of them orphans.  The Syrian Army shot two brothers and three cousins as they were working in the fields.  When I

Teddy bear store

The Champs Elysees

Wedding store

expressed surprise, Abu Mubarak, the baker, told me that people had been killed by the army just to take their mobile phones.  I also learned a little from him about the school situation.  In the camp, school is held for girls from 8 am to 11:30 am, and for boys from noon to 3 pm. Although the schools are sponsored by many countries, they all follow the Jordanian curriculum which is not the same as that in Syria.  (Jordanians tell me the Syrian curriculum is more rigorous, but at least some Syrians told me the standards were higher in Jordan).  Abu Mubarak said that the quality of instruction was not high enough for children to pass the tawjihi (the exam required for admission to any university) without work outside of school.  He has one son who did pass the tawjihi but he cannot afford to send him to university and competition for scholarships is fierce. (The EU, for example, offers a total of 250 scholarships for Syrian refugees to continue their studies in Jordan).  Syria has free university education but Jordan does not.  Tuition is about

$3,ooo -$7,000 /yr. although refugees get a 25% discount.  There is a university just 10 minutes away from the camp but just a handful of scholarships.   Abu Mubarak also talked a little about dispute resolution in the camp.  For example, one man bought a copying machine and set up outside the place where registrations are done so that people could copy documents.  Then another man showed up with a copier to do the same thing.  They went to the community police to reach a settlement about who was entitled to the spot and it was agreed they would alternate days.  The community police are

both Syrians from the camp, and Jordanians who were trained in community policing by the British.  We visited Abu Alaa and Umm Alaa and their family in a caravan.  There are at least  8 children in the family, with Alaa being the eldest, 21 years old. He is married and has children. One sister married and lives in the UK.  The rest of the family lives in a 3 room structure, two caravans and an open concrete platform covered with a tarp roof.  Of their extended family, 50-60 left Syria and 40 were killed by the regime.  They were all farmers. Alaa said, "We had a beautiful life, we bothered no one.  Syria is a wonderful country if you stay away from politics."   But, in fact, they were in the heart of the killing fields of Syria.  He said their village took little part in the demonstrations that began in Daraa.  There were too many secret police for them to dare participate.  But, as members of the family were

Waiting for Abu Mubarak’s pastry

Visiting Alaa and his family

killed, others joined the Free Syrian Army.  Some of his cousins died when their car was targeted from the air by a plane.  Alaa himself was pulled from a car at a checkpoint and severely beaten.  (I think he was about 16 or 17 when this happened).  He was only saved because an officer came by and told the soldiers to let him go.   Finally, one of his cousins shot a Syrian Army soldier as he drove by their house.  Tanks came and burned the whole house down and the family was forced to flee.  They had hidden their savings under the floor of their house.  When they returned to dig out the money, they found that rain and fire had destroyed everything so they fled Syria with nothing.  One cousin who returned was caught by the Syria Army and they cut his feet off.  What is your dream?  “For things to be as they were before.  But, as soon as Bashar goes, we will return to Syria.”   Everyone I talked to at Zaatari wanted to return to Syria.  None of them wanted resettlement (yet).  But I heard there are many in the camp who feel otherwise and try to find ways to get their kids out either through study or marriage.  So far, resettlement efforts have focused on those not living in the camps because they are perceived as more vulnerable. Despite all this, the families in Zaatari are the lucky ones. There are an estimated 17,000 Syrian refugees stuck in a no man’s land between the Syrian and Jordanian border awaiting admission to Jordan. They are living in tents in the desert, with only the most minimal services, stuck behind an earthen berm that marks a no man’s land. Jordan, facing pressure from their own overburdened people and concerned about ISIS infiltration is admitting only a few tens each day. People are dying there.

And, as the Syrian civil war shows no signs of near term resolution, Zaatari is taking on more of an air of permanence. When it was set up in mid 2012, refugees were housed in tents. Now the only tents I saw were extensions of the metal containers or caravans used to house people. Camp governance has improved and the administration hired artists living in the camp to paint the caravans with different themes to designate distinct neighborhoods. The painted caravans lend an air of cheerfulness to a bad situation but also serve to remind us that the camp is settling into semi-permanence.

Day 2 - April 12, 2016 Amman

We began by visiting the Queen Zein Al Sharaf Institute for Development, part of Jordanian Hashemite Institute for Human Development (JUHUD). They serve traumatized children, people with disabilities, women and youth – Iraqi, Syrian, Yemeni, and Somali refugees. This broad portfolio is just another reminder of how overwhelmed Jordan has become with refugees from the various wars in the region. It was a very nice facility with good resources for their programs.

The institute’s programs are rehabilitation, disability support for both adults and children, women’s empowerment – pretty comprehensive. Although it was during school hours, the place was full of children who were drawing, doing crafts projects, having discussions, and playing in the playground. Only a little more than half the refugees of school age are in school this year. She showed me a wall of children’s drawings demonstrating the healing process over time. Each child’s drawings were posted chronologically and you could see

Girls therapy group

Drawing to heal trauma

the transformation over time.

The director is proud of the major efforts underway. For example, JUHUD is doing a project to create safe spaces for 20,000 children – play areas with psychosocial support. But in a sea of need (more than a million refugees) it’s only a bucketful.

Five families came in to tell their stories. Almost every refugee I met was concerned the regime would retaliate against their family members still in Syria, so I promised only to use their first names and not to post their pictures on social media. Anyone reading this must respect that.

Emad was a trader in Homs, I’d say about 40 years old. He and his family of five fled Syria in 2012 because of the constant bombings and arbitrary arrests. He was arrested by the Syrians and held for 45 days and tortured. His family used most of their money to bail him out. He said the regime did random arrests of Sunnis with the aim of pushing people out. Emad has two children in school and one – too young for school – at home. He isn’t able to work because of his health and hopes to emigrate to the US.

Ahmed is a graphic designer from Daraa in his early 40s. He and his family (wife, 5 daughters, a son, and his mother) fled in 2013. He said they were able to withstand the bombing but when the militias and the Syrian army began fighting on the ground it was impossible to stay. He had cousins in Jordan who urged him to leave. The final straw was when his 20 year old daughter told him that, if he wanted to stay, they would stay with him but when they died it would be his fault. He was in the Zaatari camp but left because he was not able to get the medical treatment he needed. He said most people expected they would just stay in Jordan a few months and then be able to return to Syria but the war has dragged on. He would like to emigrate. His school age children are in school in Jordan but his son has not been able to continue in law school (he was in his second year in Syria). He had applied for scholarships but was not able to get the transcripts that he needed to complete the applications.

Safwan is from Homs and in his late 30s. He was a taxi driver. His car was stolen. He’s not sure whether it was by the Syrian Army, one of the militias or just a gangster. All are

possibilities. Then he was shot by the Syrian Army. It was just random drive by shooting, of which there were plenty he said. He fled with his wife and three children (8, 7 and 3 ). The rest of his family fled to a city not controlled by the regime. His children are in programs at the JUHUD center but he himself has not been able to get medical treatment

Emad, Zahari, Safwan, Ahmed, Aida, and Ruqya

and walks with a crutch because of the wounds he sustained. He would like to go back to Syria. He wants to be part of an Islamic society so would also consider emigrating to the gulf.

Zahari is a trader from Homs in his 40s. He came to Jordan in August 2014 after being displaced internally. His family lived in four cities before they came to Jordan. The children were traumatized by the bombing, the fighting, and the fleeing from one city to another. He has six children from ages 9 to 24. They all came. He lost his cousins to the war – they were shot while driving their car. The cities are under siege, people have no work, there were as many as 100 checkpoints between cities. He three children in school and three who are of age to go to university but he has no money to send them. Zahari hopes to return to Syria when it is safe.

It was a little harder to get the women to talk about their situation but eventually Aida said she wanted to. She came with her husband, 5 children and 4 sisters to Jordan in March 2013. Originally from Homs, they fled from city to city in Syria after her husband was injured. Although her husband has had surgery in Jordan, he has lost the use one arm and walks with a limp. At first they were in Zaatari but, through an uncle who was already in Jordan, they were able to get a sponsor and leave the camp to live in Amman. (Since mid 2014, people are only able to leave the Zaatari camp if they can get a Jordanian citizen to sponsor them. This law was a reaction to the huge numbers of Syrians working illegally, exacerbating already high Jordanian unemployment and driving down wages. Unfortunately it has mostly led to Syrians being exploited by Jordanians who agree to be their sponsors). Their situation is bad. Aida’s husband cannot work, so they live on UNHCR aid in a house with 15 other people. This is an improvement because at first there were 30 people living in the 4 room apartment. The monetary aid they receive is just 105 JOD (about $150) every 45 days. However, sometimes UNHCR does not have money available and so they don’t get the payment. They also receive World Food Program food coupons. Of her 5 children, 4 are in school and the other is too young to go. They hope to return to Syria when it is safe or find a way to stay in Amman.

Ruqya is Aida’s sister-in-law. She left Homs with Aida and Aida’s husband. Her husband was arrested and tortured to death by the Syrian regime. She has 2 children, ages 6 and 8. She has no possibility of supporting her children and relies on her disabled brother (Aida’s husband) to protect her.

Comments from Jihad, one of the workers at the JUHUD center: The children are all traumatized and see no future. They are very attached to their parents. Many children refuse to go to school. The trauma makes it very hard for them to make new friendships. Their development is stuck at the point where it was when the war began.

The JUHUD program tries to persuade the children to go to school but works with them regardless using music, drawing and sports to engage them.

In this hopeless situation, early marriage is a big problem. Syrians tend to marry in their mid to late teens, much earlier than Jordanians who typically marry in their mid to late twenties. Now, as Jordanian youth see Syrians marrying in their teens, they want to do the same. Also refugee families see marrying their daughters as one way to ensure their safety and future so men from the Gulf and Saudi Arabia are coming to Jordan to find brides.

Education is also a problem. Schools are overcrowded and getting refugee children to school is difficult. The women don’t want to be alone and don’t have a plan for their

children’s future, traumatized children are afraid to leave their mothers, and, for older children, work to keep the family in food may be more important than school. In addition, there are not enough apprenticeship programs for school leavers. Finally, children missed school while their families were moving from place to place in Syria to avoid bombings. The gap in education can be hard to overcome. Children don’t like being placed in classes with younger children and, if a child has missed more than 3 years of school, he/she is not eligible to continue. There is also a problem of bullying by both Jordanian students and teachers.

Jihad said it is a serious problem for the influx of refugees to continue. Jordan just does not have the resources and infrastructure to handle the situation. Funding for the treatment of refugees is now about half what it was at the beginning. Refugees are starting to leave Amman to go to the north which is closer to Syria and cheaper living. Most people either want to go back to Syria or to emigrate.

Kefaya, who is a volunteer at the JUHUD center, is an educated young Syrian woman who is waiting to emigrate with her husband. He is an engineer. They have applied to come to the US but have heard nothing after their first interview last July. Like so many of the refugees I met, Kefaya and her husband are intensely frustrated to have their lives on indefinite hold and anxious to take the next step.

Kefayah took us to see Fatimah who came from Homs in March of 2014 with her husband and six children. The family fled Homs after several family

members were imprisoned by the regime. Some cousins are still missing. Her husband had also been imprisoned but was released eventually. Fatimah and her youngest daughter were the only ones home. Four of the children are in school. The oldest, who is 15, is working to help pay the rent on their run down apartment. Her husband, who had been a taxi driver in Syria, also tries to work but is still recovering from surgery he had for a tumor. Both of them just do casual labor whenever they can. The apartment was virtually empty except for floor cushions and some cooking utensils. The children are traumatized by their experiences. The little girl does not speak. The 8 year old is hyperactive and violent as a result of trauma. He is being seen at the JUHUD center for treatment. This family does not want to emigrate. They want to go back to Syria but would stay in Amman as long as that is not possible. Like many of the families we saw, they have no assets in Jordan. They sold their car to get enough money to leave. They said they hid

Kefaya and her husband

Fatimah, her daughter and Kefaya

some assets in Syria but have no idea if they will be able to find them when/if they return.

We had a very interesting meeting with Sheikh Zayed Hammad who is the head of Al Kitab Wa Sunnah. This is the major Salafist charity in Jordan, funded largely by contributions from Saudi Arabia ($35 million) and Qatar ($40 million). Click here for some information on the Salafist movement in Jordan and here for an interview with Sheikh Zayed in The Economist. .) Sheikh Zayed is also the head of the union of these organizations in Syria, Iraw, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan. His quite small offices are in a very modest commercial building in a poor neighborhood in Amman. In all, this is a very large charity spreading a message of very conservative Islam.

The services the organization offers, out of 12 offices across the country, include medical, education, financial, material and psychological aid. He says he has reached 50,000 refugee families – nearly 500,000 people. When the Syrian conflict began, his organization developed a 10 year strategic plan which they are now halfway through and they are prepared to keep planning for the future.

Examples of their work: They donated 20,000 of the 30,000 metal containers used to house people in Zaatari. People living in tents were dying from the cold there. (My

observation would be that the refugees there probably still are poorly equipped to manage the cold). They are supporting 5,000 orphans, providing $100 monthly stipends. They also have apartment buildings in 30 locations throughout Jordan which are full service locations with an apartment for each family. (I went to see one of these buildings on the northern outskirts of Amman and it was an impressive large new building). They run schools both in Zaatari and elsewhere and centers for Koran study. They pay for surgery for injured refugees.

Sheikh Zayed surprised me by saying that the US may cooperate with them on a small project – a rehabilitation center which would serve 50 people at a time. Both Jordan and the United States face the problem that, unless they provide much more money and attention to the problems of refugees, Salafist charities will fill the void. Sheikh Zayed was well aware of this too. He said, “If governments did their job, we would not be here.”

Sheikh Zayed Hammad

The US has given the Jordanian government $100 million for refugee services. It sounds like a lot but it works out to $76 per refugee in Jordan — about half of one months’ stipend.

Al Kittab wa Sunnah’s organization is also working in Syria but only in areas controlled by the Free Syrian Army. They have built 5 camps inside Syria for the internally displaced.

Education remains a huge problem for refugees. Only a little more than half of eligible children are in school. There are a lot of reasons for this: traumatized parents who don’t want to be alone, traumatized children who won’t leave their parents, the need to put children to work so families can eat, bullying and harassment from an overcrowded and undertrained education system. Turkey is experimenting with an internet education program using the Syrian curriculum. Jordan has not approved this because the program issues a tawjihi certificate that is not from the Syrian government. There’s a political issue here but I’m not sure exactly what it is. And advanced education is not free in Jordan so almost all refugees are limited to competing for scholarships. Al Kitab wa Sunnah has a philanthropist who wants to adopt 300 families to educate one of their children. He would provide tuition payments and some financial support to the families – JOD1000/mo. Or about $1400 – in all $5 mn. (The EU is also funding scholarships for college – 270 to date with much more promised to come. Overall the number of scholarships available for study in Jordan is small. UNHCR had 150 scholarships available in 2014. ) The American Open University (which only offers classes in Islamic Studies) is giving 50 scholarships and a 50% discount to refugees. Since it only costs about $2,000/year, it could be an attractive alternative.

The next visit was particularly sad. We went to the Palestinian quarter of Amman (Jabal el-Hussein), an older area which is more a crowded urban quarter of Amman than a refugee camp. A lot of Syrians are living there. Mohammad introduced me to Firas, a woman who he said volunteered among the refugees to help them get the services they needed. She did, indeed, seem to

know everyone. We stopped first at the home of Salem and Heyam who came to Jordan in 2012 from Homs because of the bombings and house raids, they said. (The rest of his family fled to Damascus). However, after further conversation, it came out that he had been hit by shrapnel when a sniper tried to kill him during the massacre in Karm el Zeitoun in March 2012. He described random shooting by the Syrian Army to force people to leave the area.

The shrapnel destroyed Salem’s right eye and damaged the left one. He was not able to get any treatment in Syria. By the time he got to Jordan, nothing could be done to save

Jabal al Hussein neighborhood

the right eye. He has had several surgeries on the left idea for lesions but has been told he needs more advanced treatment than he can get in Jordan.

Salem made an asylum application to come to the US, completing all the steps a year ago. At the time of his interview he was told the application would be expedited because of his injuries. He got a letter from US Immigration in July telling him his application was delayed pending further review. There was no furtherexplanation. Since the vision in his left eye is continuing to deteriorate, he is quite desperate to get an answer. His brother applied to emigrate to Canada and was quickly approved. (Salem’s father and a cousin are already there). He will leave on April 26. Salem would love to join him but can’t apply to Canada unless he is rejected by the US. Meanwhile, he risks becoming completely blind. Salem was a butcher. Unless he receives medical treatment soon he will never be able to resume his work.

He has six children – 4, 5, 10, 12, 15, and 16 – 3 girls and 3 boys. None of the children are in school and have not been most of the time since 2012. This leaves a huge gap in their education – one which neither Salem nor his wife are able to fill. They have not been sending the children to school in Jordan because of problems of harassment and bullying , mostly from teenage gangs in the neighborhood. One of their boys had his hat stolen and was threatened with being set on fire. He said he wouldn’t allow his girls to

walk in the streets alone. From there we went to see Amal and Khalil. They also left Homs in 2012. They have 6 children with the oldest about 12. Four of the six are in school. He left Homs because the children were completely traumatized by the bombings and shooting. Altogether 5 of Khalil’s six brothers fled to Jordan. Just one is left in Syria.

Khalil worked as a taxi driver until his car was stolen – hijacked actually. When they left, they fled to Qalamoun. Qalamoun was attacked by the Syrian Army in November n2013 and the went to Damascus, then walked to Jordan. (This is about 80 miles). At that time Amal was pregnant with their youngest child. Khalil has not been able to find work so the family is living on aid.

Heyam, Salem, and a daughter

Amal, Khalil and two daughters

The star of the family is Noor, who is five. Her father proudly said she was the smartest in her class. She has a lot of confidence and charisma and promptly sang me the alphabet in English. Six months ago they applied to emigrate and had their first interview. Khalil needs to get the documents to prove his divorce from his first wife. This is not so easy. Amal asked hopefully if there it was true, as they had heard, there was some kind of “express line” for asylum applications.

After this, a surprise. I had assumed Firas was a Jordanian/Palestinian woman but found out she was a refugee from Homs, just like the people she had introduced me to. She has her own individual philanthropy network – one or two people each month who contribute to let her buy food for people in need. She certainly is not spending this money on herself. We went to her very modest, rundown two room apartment and met her husband and one of her daughters. They are from Homs and made the long trip to Damascus, then to Daraa and, finally, walked to Jordan. Before they could cross the border they stayed in a temporary camp that was bombed by the Syrian regime.

They arrived in April 2012. Firas said that, before 2012, it was just the Syrian Army that was attacking people. After that, with the armed rebellion in full sway, anybody and everybody was a target. The children were so traumatized they could not sleep.

None of her children are in school. She cited the same harassment and bullying as Salem had. She said it was not safe for Syrian girls to go anywhere alone. In fact, it was not safe for Syrian widows to go anywhere alone. The girls are upset that they are not in school. They are embarrassed that they are barely able to read.

Firas’ husband is not working. He has diabetes and back problems.

The stress that the refugees’ situation places on their normal social roles is obvious. Men are not able to work in their trades or professions, are embarrassed and/or depressed about their inability to support their families so health problems are magnified by their situation.

Our last stop was in Abu Nuseyr in the northern outskirts of Amman, an upscale suburb. There we saw one of Al Kitab wa Sunnah’s apartment buildings - -a large, well maintained quite new building. It’s far away from almost everything in the city but I was told it was essentially a self-contained community. The organization provides social services and schooling in or near the apartment building. People living there also receive supplemental food so they do not have to be near a commercial center to find work.

The amazing Noor

Firas, her husband and son

Then we drove into the garage of a new apartment building, also in Abu Nuseyr, to a tiny improvised space where Abu Zaid, his wife, Kefaya and their four children (3 boys – less than 1 year, 4 and 6 and a girl 2) were living. It was two rooms, divided by a curtain, carved out of the garage and no bigger than 12x15. Abu Zaid arrived in Zaatari in December 2013 from a village near Daraa. They stayed only a few weeks in Zaatari. At the time people were living in tents and it was the middle of winter. He and his family moved in with a relative in Amman until he found the space he is currently living in. He pays for it by acting as the unpaid janitor for the apartment building. He is also now working in another building so getting a little money.

He left his village because it was impossible to find a safe place to live or food or work. He had to sell his car to buy food. His wife was pregnant when they left. It took a week for them to make the trip, mostly on foot.

He said he was planning to apply to emigrate, preferably to the US. Since his wife was in niqab and did not seem to have much schooling or any work skills, I mentioned that emigrating to the US might be hard on his wife. He asked why and I just said, “It’s a really different culture.” I think he knew exactly what I meant because he

immediately responded, “If we have to change anything about the way we live, I’d rather stay in Amman.”

Almost everyone I met in those two days had been a refugee for at least four years but had left their homes believing they would probably return in a few months, Most of them lost family members in the civil war. Some had been imprisoned or wounded themselves. All hoped for a better future but found it almost impossible to make a real plan to realize that. I came away feeling admiration for the bravery and tenacity of the people I met, concern for their future and particularly for the future of their children, frustration about the terribly slow and cumbersome process of emigration, and, certainly, embarrassment about how little the U.S. has done so far to help.

Al Kitab wa Sunnah apt. building

Abu Zaid and his family