Iraqi refugees struggle in day-to-day existence

Relief workers bring encouragement, hope

Sep 10, 2003
JONI B. HANNIGAN
Managing Editor

JORDAN (FBW)—Baptist relief workers from Florida, Georgia, Texas, Virginia and North Carolina, in Jordan to provide assistance to Iraqi refuges, began visiting in homes Sept. 7 and joined in a healthcare effort Sept. 9.

The workers were originally scheduled to go into Baghdad, Iraq, to begin delivery of some 46,000 food boxes collected by Southern Baptists to be given to needy families. When security concerns diverted the team from Iraq to Jordan, Baptist workers there tried to arrange for some of the boxes to be taken there where an estimated 500,000 Iraqi refugees live.

The red-tape involved in re-directing the boxes and the fact that many of the ports in the Middle East close during the soaring temperatures in August prevented the team from being able to deliver any of those boxes.

Sept. 7 the relief workers were able to visit in some refugee homes, bringing a limited amount of baby supplies and other assorted items they had either brought on the trip over or purchased locally for the families. The workers also provided a very small sum of money to the refugees for rent.

In one home, Daoud* said his family of four fled Iraq in 1999 after he began to fear for their safety. He has a sister who lives in the United States and has been offered work there. A taxi driver by trade, Daoud said he cannot work in Jordan where a legitimate visa typically expires after three months. Instead, he relies on his sister’s family to send him money for rent and food until he obtains a visa to be able to live and work near them in America.

Responding to questions by relief workers, Daoud said he is a Christian with an Assyrian church background. He asked for prayers for his two daughters who are three and one years of age.

A relief worker from Texas told him he believes Daoud is a "good father."

"I am honored," Daoud told the worker through an interpreter. "You are my brother and because of that, my family is your family."

At another home, Lillian*, who is an Orthodox Christian, said she has been waiting three long years in Jordan since fleeing Iraq and she misses "everything" about being at home.

But that doesn’t mean she wants to return to Iraq. Explaining that their house had been "stolen" from them, Lillian said they had nothing to return for and she and her husband wanted their three children to be safe.

Caring for her mother and children by herself, Lillian said her husband is in a western European country where he has been trying to obtain visas for her and the children. Though she did not describe her husband’s illness, Lillian said he was too sick to work. She relies on a sister who sends her money from a country in the West.

A Baptist worker in the region said there are many families in the same situation who are still afraid to return to Iraq and don’t anticipate ever returning there. The worker said the families’ lives are on hold—and the future is uncertain.

The Baptist worker coordinating the trip said Daoud’s and Lillian’s homes were mostly typical of Christian refugees in the area, but that the Muslims usually fared worse.

In one home the relief workers sat on mats on the floor of a cement home without furniture. The family there had been in Jordan for three years and were used to going without food for days.

"It just broke my heart to see them like that," one worker said.

Relief workers also spent a day at a location where Iraqi refugees and others too poor to afford regular health care could receive basic attention.

There they took temperatures, listened to heartbeats, handed out medications and baby items and tried to encourage the people.

One worker said one Iraqi woman who is hypoglycemic told the doctor her symptoms had not improved despite taking medication. The doctor asked her three times whether she was eating enough for the medication to work.

"There is not enough food," the woman finally whispered. The worker reported later that the doctor made arrangements to follow up to ensure the woman would be able to receive basic nutritional items.

In another case, an Iraqi man who is diabetic was reported to have dangerously high levels of sugar in his blood. When the doctor asked him why he wasn’t taking his medication twice a day, the man said he could not afford to purchase the medication and while the location was closed during the summer, he took only half his prescribed dose.

"It’s so sad," the worker said.

Sept. 10 the relief workers were set to purchase foodstuffs to deliver to Iraqi refugees in the poorest neighborhoods of Jordan on Sept. 11.

One worker observed, "What a better way to show the grace and reconciliation of God than to bring help to those who we have perceived who have hurt us."

*Names, locations and details withheld for security concerns.

*Names changed for security reasons.

Joni B. Hannigan, managing editor of Florida Baptist Witness, is on assignment with a Southern Baptist relief team in Jordan.

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