He also, inadvertently, got a lesson in just how dire the situation of some Iraqi refugees is. He was fortunate enought to meet several Iraqi women refugees. Quite a few of them were Iraqi women who were raising their children (or grandchildren) without their husbands either because their husbands weren't allowed to leave Iraq or more often because their husbands had been killed in the violence in Iraq. He was awe-struck by the depth of gratitude these women felt when he was able to help them with groceries or some money. The stories he heard and the things he saw would make you cry, but the problem is so much deeper than the few women he was able to help.
Since he returned, I have done some investigating on my own. I already knew that the Iraqi refugee situation was bad in Jordan. We have seen Iraqi women trying to sell whatever they can on the side of the street just to put food in their mouths. There are hundreds of thousand of Iraqi's living in Jordan and a great deal of them are living in abject poverty. It doesn't just affect the refugees, either. Our nieces and nephews have to attend school in shifts because there isn't room for all the students at once now that there are so many Iraqi children attending school in Jordan (but thank God the Iraqi children are now allowed to attend school). And the schools were overwhelmed with the number of students and half of the kids we know did not have books two months into school because there weren't enough to go around. The cost of living in Jordan has risen dramatically since the war began but Jordanians aren't making any more money than they were prior to the war. We even felt the difference when we were there in August, and we certainly have more disposable income than most in Jordan. Finally, there are refugee camps where conditions are much less than ideal.
I recently was reading the webpage for Refugees International and I came across these facts:
- Over 4 million Iraqis have been displaced from their country by violence
- 1.5 million are now living in Syria
- 1 million refugees inhabit Jordan, Iran, Egypt, Lebanon, Yemen, and Turkey
I don't know what the solution to these problems is, although I am sure that the trillions of dollars that have been spent on the Iraq war could go a long way towards helping solve some of the problems. We created this refugee crisis, whether intentionally or not, and I think it behooves the US to fix it. Not only will it improve our image around the world, but it's simply the right thing to do.
2 comments:
Hi,
I read what you wrote, and feel happy that there are people who actualy are concerned about the Iraqi people, cause since 2003, they appear to be nothing more than statistic numbers. I am an Iraqi, but maybe a bit more fortunate cause am living in a European country. But not a day passes without thinking of what has happened to us, from one of the most wealthiest nations in the Arab world (late 70's the Iraqi Dinar= 3.33 USD), and a nation that people from all the world would come to make money including Jordanians, and most of the Arabworld would come for education in Iraq's universities, to the status today, where the people are treated as aliens, and a burden.
I am not saying that all the Iraqi refugees are coming from heaven, cause you will find the bad and the good, but in the Arab world unfortunatly, as in the rest of the world, what a small population of bad people do, would be how the whole of those people are looked at. At the moment, or the near future i do not see a solution coming to the ground in Iraq, therefore we will remain homeless, even though we have a home. I have a 2 years old daughter, and till today she has not seen my family, which saddens me deeply, and bring tears to my eyes. I hope and wish and pray to God that some ease would come upon my people, nothing more can be done i guess, since there is no political will to do so, not even from the installed iraqi government, and for those who say it is democraticly elected, well i could not vote, as most of my family back home because they were under gun point, so pls wake up and try to admit the truth, it is NOT a democracy yet.
Thnx for your topic
Thank you for reading. You are right, it is a horrible problem, unfortunately one that we the U.S. created. And it affects not only Iraqis, but Syrians and Jordanians, and ultimately the world.
I am sorry for your loss and that you have been unable to return to see your family.
My voice (and that of my husband) probably doesn't make that much difference, but know that there are people even in the U.S. who are aware of what is going on.
Thanks for your comment!
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