Bismillah Ar
Rahman Ar Raheem
Assalaamu
alaikum wa rahmathullah wa barakatuhu
Jazakum Allahu Khair to all of you who have practiced sabr
and patiently waited for me to come back on line again. I promised many of you that I would explain
more fully what happened, and that is what I'll try to do now.
As some of you know, after the U.S.-backed military coup in
Egypt, and the illegal ousting of the President and the freely elected
parliament, the army set about destroying the Muslim Brotherhood who had formed
the previous legitimate government. The
Brotherhood was declared (with no justification at all) a terrorist
organisation, and hundreds, maybe thousands, of its members arrested, tortured
and have even condemned to death on fictitious charges.
Although I was never a member of the Brotherhood, I had done
professional editing work for them and it seemed that this made me a terrorist
too, as I was warned by a very brave brother that I was liable to be 'bought in
for questioning' shortly. In the modern
day Egypt 'questioning' is another word for imprisonment without trial, and for
torture. So I left the country where I
have lived over half my life and, after some terrifying 'adventures', I somehow
managed to get back to Jordan, my homeland, guided and protected by Allah
(subhana wa ta'ala). I arrived in the
land of my birth with practically no money (less than the equivalent of US$ 12),
and just the clothes I was wearing, plus my laptop. Things like my cell phones, and tablet had
been used as bribes when I was getting out of Egypt, and all my other
possessions had to be left behind. Later
I discovered my Egyptian bank account had been 'frozen' (or more likely, raided
and emptied by some corrupt official).
Subhanallah old family friends took me in and help me get on
my feet again. Clearly my old work was
no longer open to me, so I had to decide what to do. The most obvious choice had to be to try and
help those less fortunate than myself which, in today's Jordan, means the
hundreds of thousands of refugees that have flooded in from Iraq. As I had myself
been a utterly terrified refugee for short period of time, I had briefly
glimpsed the terrible trauma that so many fleeing Iraqis must have suffered as
they fled the civil war that is ripping their country apart. So to do something for them seemed both
logical and a small way of thanking Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) for guiding me
out of Egypt and into the relative safety of Jordan.
Because I speak both English and French as well as Arabic, I
soon found that I was wanted as an interpreter for many of aid agencies working
with the refugees. At first I started working as an interpreter, secretary and
general 'gopher' in the Zaatari camp near Mafraq. When I saw it I was shocked, horrified and
totally surprised as it is VAST; I have
been told that over 140,000 people live there, making it the fourth or fifth
largest 'city' in all Jordan. Yes, over
ONE HUNDRED and FOURTY THOUSAND REFUGEES in a camp that only opened less than 2
years ago with a capacity of 15,000.
Thankfully I was with some experienced aid workers or else I am sure I
would have soon got lost during my early days in the camp.
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| Zataari from the air |
Also amazing is the way that, although parts of the camp are
disorganised and squalid, some have streets and shops, with very efficient medical
centres. But, sadly, the camp has its
criminal elements. Prostitution is rife, the way for some young women to earn
money, and the only rich refugees you see seem to be known drug dealers. All this against a background of riots,
fights and destruction of people's tents and property which must make some
refugees think they have escaped out of the violent hell of Syria only to find
themselves surrounded by the same hell in Zaatari.
All the time, almost daily, the camp is visited by foreign
VIPs, who looked appalled by what they see but who, after making empty
promises, then return to their safe and comfortable homes in the West, the
great majority of them doing nothing to help.
Showing them for the worthless politicians they are, the
people who deserve praise are the teams from charities, aid agencies and
organisations who work with refugees in Zaatari and in the other camps. Just as an example, there are medical teams
from all round the world, ranging from Médicins
Sans Frontieres and the International Medical Corps through to field hospitals
run by the Moroccan, Italian and French military who mainly treat refugees
suffering from war injuries. There are
clinics for women and the Red Crescent has a very effective presence in the
camp.
The camp is primarily run by UNHCR but charities such as
Oxfam and Save the Children have very active volunteers in the Camp. But for all the immense work done by the
agencies and charities, there is a lot of discontent -
mainly about how the refugees are housed, and the distribution of food. I was
lucky to narrowly escape being swamped by a riot only last week and flash
points are never far away. Of course the
real tragedy is that the people now living in Zaatari have had their lives
wrecked already, many have seen their homes in Syria destroyed as well as
members of their families massacred.
When, if ever, they can go home is the question which torments them and is
always in the minds of the people who help them survive their ordeal.
 |
| Washing Clothes in Zaatari |
Now the war in Iraq means that there is a fresh flow of
refugees starting to come into Jordan, and I seem to be getting more involved
with those people. But that I hope to
write about shortly in another blog insha'Allah.
PLEASE make dua for all the refugees who are fleeing or have
fled from the dreadful war in Syria and who are starting to try to escape the
carnage in Iraq too. In the holy month
of Ramadhan your prayers will be especially powerful and, in most of our cases,
praying is all we can do. I feel
privileged mto be able to be 'on the ground' and what little I can do is my
offering of thanks to Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) for guiding me from Egypt and
into a situation where I can feel needed.
(Part 2 of this blog I hope to post in the next week
insha'Allah.)
