慈濟傳播人文志業基金會
Frozen at the Border

Many nations in the Middle East have been entangled in civil wars or social unrest. As a result, a large number of their citizens have chosen to pull up their roots and seek safe haven in other countries.

Jordan has admitted many such refugees, many of them fleeing the long-running Syrian civil war across the border. But supporting those refugees for such a long period has now become a heavy burden for the Jordanian government and aid organizations alike. Tzu Chi volunteers in the nation, though small in number, have done what they could to help out.

 

Schoolchildren at the Zaatari refugee camp walk home after school. The camp, which opened four years ago, is the largest in Jordan.

CROSSING THE LINE

Toward the end of May 2016, about 12,000 Syrians were stranded in the Hadalat area on the Jordanian border, waiting to be accepted into Jordan. During the day they were allowed to cross the border to get food and water from international aid groups, but they had to return to Syria before nightfall.

GOOD HEALTH

This woman waits in front of a pharmacy for her medications after seeing a physician inside the Zaatari refugee camp.

The camp has grown to become almost a town. It currently has two hospitals, nine healthcare centers, and a delivery room. However, for more complicated cases, refugees have to get treatment outside the camp at their own expense.

 

 

A volunteer cheers up a boy who has just returned to his bed in the hospital after receiving a Tzu Chi-sponsored operation.

It was May 2016 in Amman, the capital of Jordan. Anticipation for the upcoming centennial of the nation, as well as the holy month of Ramadan, was palpable in the air. The national flags that lined the streets nearly brushed our car as we made our way towards the Ras Al-Ayn district of Amman. We were there to visit a few Syrian families receiving Tzu Chi’s long-term care before the start of Ramadan, when Muslims fast during the daylight hours.

“Many Syrian refugees live in this area for the low rents,” said Chen Chiou Hwa (陳秋華), the head of Tzu Chi in Jordan. “All of our care recipients in Amman live here.”

We first visited Khaled’s family of seven. They fled to Jordan in 2012, initially settling in the Zaatari refugee camp. The dusty surroundings at the camp were hard on Khaled’s asthmatic son, so they moved to Amman, leaving behind the refugee camp and its free food and services. They were on their own now.

Khaled, 48, could not find work in Amman, so he gradually fell behind on household expenses such as utilities, food, and rent. They sought help. “We tried four aid organizations, but even after waiting in line for eight hours, we received nothing from them,” Khaled said. “Then we met the Tzu Chi volunteers. They gave us food and 50 dinars [US$70]. With that money, I was able to buy asthma medicine for my son the next day.” The father was grateful as he recalled his family’s first encounter with the foundation in 2012.

Each month since then, Tzu Chi has provided his family with money, shopping vouchers, and asthma medication. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has also given them shopping vouchers. As long as they spend carefully, they are able to get by with what they have.

On this day, the family had prepared a nice meal to welcome us to their home. The meal included steamed wheat with fried onion topping, salad, yogurt, and mint tea. Though they were just barely getting by, they served the very best.

“You mustn’t refuse what they offer,” Chen told us. “Otherwise, they’ll think that you look down on their food. Be sure to sample everything. This is their way of saying ‘thank you’ to us.”

“June 6 marks the beginning of Ramadan this year. They invited us to return after a month to join them for the celebration of Eid al-Fitr.” Hana Sabat, a volunteer who has worked closely with the family, translated their invitation for us. Eid al-Fitr is the religious holiday that marks the end of Ramadan. “Each year they yearn to spend Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr in Syria,” Hana lamented, “but that wish has yet to come true. It’s been four years since they left home.”

A large refugee population

Jordan has remained a peaceful country despite being in the midst of so much turmoil in the Middle East. Many Jordanians can trace their family trees back to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Palestine, and Sudan. Despite such diverse ethnicities, Jordanians have learned how to live together in peace.

Chen, originally from Taiwan, has lived in Jordan for 42 years. He said, “Jordan is a small country with few natural resources, but its people are compassionate. They’re willing to open up and receive people from other nations. Even before this Syrian civil war, Jordan accepted many Palestinian refugees during the war between Israel and Palestine.”

After five years, the fighting in Syria still shows no sign of abating. Wave upon wave of Syrians have scattered to neighboring countries, journeying even as far as Western Europe. The UNHCR indicates that through June 2016, more than 4.8 million Syrians have abandoned their own country. Of those, about 2.74 million escaped to Turkey and a million to Lebanon. Jordan, with a population of under ten million, has taken in more than 650,000 registered Syrian refugees. It is estimated that more than a million additional Syrians have not registered.

Jordan established eight refugee camps along its 235-mile border with Syria after the start of the civil war to accommodate the influx of people. Chen initially tried to get Tzu Chi volunteers into the Zaatari camp—the largest refugee camp in Jordan—to offer help, but then after considering how few fellow volunteers he had and their safety once inside a camp, he decided to shelve that idea temporarily.

Then it dawned on him. “Many refugees live outside those camps,” he said to himself. “In fact, more are living outside than inside, and they’re more in need of help.”

Many refugees, like Khaled and his family, have opted to forgo the free food and services available in the camps to live outside, in the hope that their lives would be better. They have dispersed to places such as Amman, Irbid, and Marfraq. Some of them have received help from or moved in with relatives or friends. Others have been completely on their own.

Jordanian volunteer Abeer Aglan M. Madanat remarked, “Generally, the living conditions of the refugees aren’t good. They average just one and a half meals a day. I’ve seen people eating a quarter of a flatbread with jam for a meal. Adults are often turned down when they look for jobs. Many children are therefore forced to quit school to work.” In fact, it is not uncommon to hear news of refugees begging on the streets to scrape by, or turning to prostitution as a last resort.

A woman smiles and thanks volunteers for paying for an operation for her granddaughter, now in post-surgery recovery.

Targeted relief

In the winter of 2011, Tzu Chi volunteers distributed emergency supplies to refugees in the border town of Mafraq. In September 2012, they began providing aid such as blankets, food, powdered milk, and clothes in Ar Ramtha, a mere five kilometers (3.1 miles) from the Syrian border. The distributions have been staffed by Tzu Chi volunteers from Jordan and other countries, parents and students from the Taekwondo school where Chen taught, and Tzu Chi-paid Syrian refugees.

Volunteers also specifically visit and provide aid to some refugee families. “We’re giving regular assistance to 52 families in Ar Ramtha and 23 in Amman,” Chen explained. “They receive money and shopping vouchers or daily necessities each month. We also visit their homes from time to time to check on them.”

Among the millions of Syrian refugees, these 75 families are just the tip of the iceberg. “We’re limited in our capacity to help,” Chen said frankly. “At this time we’re able to give regular support to only those families. However, as long as we’re at it, we don’t limit our efforts to just giving them things. We are also trying to help make their lives better in a substantive way.”

A volunteer, right, helps a family comfort a child before he is wheeled into the surgery room. Despite the language barrier, smiles and body language seem to suffice.

Medical relief

One day in 2015, Chen saw Achar, a Syrian refugee, at a monthly distribution in Amman. She was wearing sunglasses, and she seemed secretive, not wanting to be seen. Chen approached her to express his concern and discovered she was wearing those sunglasses to hide a bruise. She had been beaten by her husband, Saddam.

A bomb blast in 2012 back in Syria damaged Saddam’s pelvis. After that, he underwent seven operations over three years. He was forced to end his treatment when aid organizations became unable or unwilling to fund further operations for him. Bedridden with painful wounds, he worried about the future of the nine people in his family. One day he lost his cool and beat Achar.

When Chen learned of the abuse, he began working with the family more closely. “The most important thing at the time was to treat Saddam’s injuries. We enlisted the help of an orthopedic surgeon in December 2015 to assess Saddam’s condition, and he operated on him.”

Saddam recovered well after the surgery. When volunteers visited him after the operation, his wounds were improving. Six months later, he was well enough to get out of his bed and walk a few steps.

“Saddam, don’t beat up Achar again,” Chen admonished him.

“I won’t. It won’t happen again. I’m really grateful for Tzu Chi’s help,” Saddam replied with a smile. Off to one side, Achar and the rest of the family smiled too.

Faisal is an 11-year-old boy from another Syrian refugee family in Jordan. A stray bullet had struck his head in front of his home in Syria, damaging his cerebral and visual nerves. Despite several operations after he and his family had fled to Jordan, his ability to learn and care for himself was impaired. He even had to stop going to school.

“The boy had to take medications for his condition, which put a strain on the family’s finances,” volunteer Hana Sabat said. “His mother was worried but didn’t have the courage to ask for help from Tzu Chi.” After volunteers got to know the family and their situation better, they offered to help ease the burden on the family.

This way of caring for needy refugee families has been characteristic of Tzu Chi volunteers in Jordan. In addition to helping with refugees’ everyday needs, volunteers help them obtain medical treatment.

Since November 2014, help with medical expenses has taken on a heightened importance for refugees. That was when the United Nations stopped providing medical care subsidies to refugees not living in refugee camps. Refugees living outside the camps now have to pay the full prevailing rates that Jordanians themselves pay. These unsubsidized rates are out of the reach of most refugees. They literally cannot afford to be sick.

But the reality is that people do not choose to be ill. When they fall very ill, they must either get medical care or face the consequences of permanent damage, disability, or death.

By the end of June 2016, Tzu Chi volunteers in Jordan had fully paid for hospital operations for 19 refugees. These cases involved various medical conditions, such as congenital defects or war-inflicted injuries. Whatever the situation, volunteers supported the refugees through their necessary treatment, surgery, and rehabilitation so that they could return to normal.

People often ask Chen what his standard is for taking on a case. He always replies, “If fate steers them to Tzu Chi, then we help them.”

After the medical treatments, the recipients have turned out differently—not always what the volunteers might have anticipated or hoped for. For example, having recovered from his treatment, a young rebel fighter returned to Syria to fight again. In another instance, volunteers sponsored a woman to deliver her child through a difficult labor only to see the preterm baby die three days later.

Despite these negative outcomes, “We’ll continue to help when there’s a chance,” Chen said.

By helping refugees through this hard time in their lives, volunteers have helped imprint the name of Tzu Chi on their minds.
 

Persistence

When the civil war in Syria broke out five years ago, many aid organizations pitched in to help the refugees that fled to Jordan, but the duration and size of the crisis have gradually outgrown and worn down the ability or willingness of these organizations to help. Many organizations have either withdrawn entirely or scaled down their efforts.

Some refugees told Tzu Chi volunteers, “At first we had aid organizations help pay our rent and utility bills, but such aid has ceased. The shopping vouchers from the UNHCR were first reduced by half and then totally terminated.”

Chen commented that many aid organizations are more willing than able to help, so they can only pick out some cases to sponsor. They typically do not fund surgical operations that have low probabilities of success, or cases that require multiple surgeries. “Some hospital personnel have told me that they like working with Tzu Chi because we pay our bills promptly.”

This year, volunteers received permission to enter the Zaatari refugee camp to help pay for hernia surgeries for 57 children. In addition, at the request of the United Nations, volunteers distributed aid to Syrian refugees at the Jordan-Syria border. Though the number of Tzu Chi volunteers in Jordan is small, they are still helping out.

Challenges

Needless to say, there have been challenges for the volunteers in the process of providing aid. In February, they drove for four hours with relief goods from Amman to the border for a distribution. When they arrived, however, Jordanian armed forces personnel told them that it was too dangerous at the border and requested that they leave the goods with them and turn back.

Chen knew from experience that complying with the soldiers’ request all but guaranteed that the goods would not reach the refugees for whom the volunteers had made this trip.

Volunteer Zheng Shun-ji (鄭順吉), who is from Ireland and is helping out in Jordan, explained in more explicit terms: “Several organizations have requested our aid. They hoped that we would just give them money. Instead, we bought relief goods ourselves. When they realized that there would be nothing for them to gain personally, they gave us the cold shoulder.”

Volunteer Abeer firmly explained to the soldiers at the border that it was standard practice for Tzu Chi volunteers to put relief goods directly in the hands of their intended recipients. After listening to this explanation, the soldiers finally agreed to let the volunteers go on with their work, and they escorted them as they gave out supplies. The distribution was successfully held without further incident.

But the volunteers still needed to tie up some loose ends. They had brought more goods than they handed out that day, so there were supplies left. The soldiers suggested that they store the goods in a military storage facility, and they said that they would call Chen two weeks later about the time for a follow-up distribution.

That suggestion bothered Chen, but he had no choice but to accept it. “It’s not that I don’t trust the Arabs, but experience has told me that I can’t always take their promises at face value,” Chen said. Sure enough, just as he had predicted, two weeks later the soldiers dragged their feet. Only after much prodding from Chen did military personnel agree to let them hold the follow-up distribution.

This anecdote may not epitomize the ethos of Jordanian society, but Tzu Chi volunteers have often encountered similar incidents over the years carrying out their relief work. “In an incident like that, it’s important that we Tzu Chi volunteers stick to our principles,” Zheng said. “But insisting too strongly on conducting distributions in our own way could upset the people who work with us so much that they refuse to work with us again. So, carrying out Tzu Chi work can sometimes be quite a challenge in Jordan.”

Bright spots

Volunteers have helped refugees with sincerity and persistence. Their efforts have not gone unnoticed by the recipients and have even made an impact on them.

Refugee Hala was a pediatrician in her native Iraq. Volunteers have procured her service at some free clinics for refugees. “I once had a very hard time making ends meet in Jordan. [By paying me for treating patients at free clinics,] Tzu Chi has not only helped me financially but also allowed me to use my expertise. Without them, I’d be idle and feel useless.”

Waffa, who lives in Ar Ramtha, is a Tzu Chi care recipient and volunteer. She has taken part in monthly distributions and home visits to the needy. In May 2016, she went for the first time with other volunteers to visit needy Bedouin families in southern Jordan. Reflecting on the visit, she said: “We’ve often heard refugees complain about how tough their lives are in Jordan or how little people are helping them. I’d suggest that these refugees see the lives of some Bedouin families, who have had it tougher than us refugees.”

Refugee Abdul Maqsoud came across Tzu Chi volunteers when he was ill and helpless. They helped him get surgery, and he recovered. “Though we don’t share the same religion, I was most grateful when the volunteers introduced me to the foundation and Master Cheng Yen,” he said. “You saved me and my family.” He cherishes his affinities with Tzu Chi so much that he keeps a photo of the Master on his cell phone.

Hamza, aged 8, had heard stories of Tzu Chi members saving pocket change in coin banks and donating the money to the foundation, because Master Cheng Yen had taught them that trickles of money add up to significant sums that can be used to help the needy. When Hamza saw a classmate become ill, he got six classmates to each donate a little money to help that classmate see a doctor. The teacher was surprised at this and wondered how he knew about such a way of raising money. Hamza told the teacher that he had learned it from Tzu Chi.

Volunteers were impressed when they heard this story during their visit to Hamza’s home, and they praised him for his action. “We’ve cared for his family for just six months, yet our stories have already had an impact,” Zheng said. “It shows how pure-hearted children are.”

Volunteers take comfort in seeing refugees' lives getting better with their help.

Spiritual nourishment

Chen works for the Jordanian royal family. He started volunteering for Tzu Chi over two decades ago, providing assistance to local needy people and Bedouins. His calendar is often very full. Nevertheless, he has reserved an exclusive slot at midnight every day to listen via videoconferencing to the Master’s 5:20 a.m. sermon in Taiwan.

After that, in the quiet of the night, he continues to think of ways to help refugees in spite of the inadequate manpower and resources of the Jordan Tzu Chi branch. There is so much to do and yet there is so little help; the pressure can be overwhelming. “Luckily I have the Buddha’s teachings on my side to help me think and stay grounded. Otherwise I would surely become very depressed,” Chen said with a chuckle.

Nobody knows when the Syrian civil war will end. They know even less whether the suffering and sacrifices of the refugees—in property, their children’s education, or human life—will ever be compensated. Despite the unknown, Tzu Chi volunteers in Jordan forge on.

In addition to charity and medical care, Chen pointed out another area toward which volunteers can devote their future efforts. “Education [for refugee children] is what we need to focus on next,” Chen said. “These children will help shape the future of Syria.”

Fall 2016