Humanitarian Aid

Hey Everyone,

This post is about Syria. As you know, there is a war going on there, and that there are a huge number of refugees. In the last 2 years, roughly 1.5 million Syrians have come to Jordan, increasing the Jordanian population by 16%. Less than half of them are registered in refugee camps, with the largest camp having over 400,000 people, 10 babies born per day, and no police force.

In the media, we read about the need for humanitarian aid for the refugees, but we rarely think about what this aid actually looks like. Living with my family has helped me learn. Both of my host parents work for the IRD, a non-profit organization promoting international relief and development. My host dad spends his days organizing volunteers that help refugees register for services through the UNHCR and doing so himself. His desk is covered in papers that families filled out asking for housing, services, etc. My mom doesn't work at home so I don't know what she does as well, but I know that she helps deliver services to refugees.

Last night, humanitarian aid took over our living room. My dad came home with a full carload of bags and boxes, filled with goods to be distributed to refugees. I've seen the line of people standing outside the Syrian embassy a few times, and I've met many people that left Syria because of the war, but seeing these goods was what made me actually realize the kind of things that real people do not have because of the terrible war going on in my current neighbor.



Here are some pictures of the goods that came in. They were shipped from Saudi Arabia, but the funding didn't come from the UN. Funding came from rich donors to the IRD. The goods that came in were interesting. There was a lot of kids clothing--cute sweatsuits, socks, sweaters, knock off crocs, etc. There were a lot of essentials--underwear, bras, undershirts, socks. There were also the essentials that prove why it's important to have people that live within the culture that needs help involved in the process: SO MANY HIJABS. In the west, we would never think to buy hijabs, prayer hijabs (outfits you can throw over whatever you're normal clothes to pray modestly). Before I came to Jordan, had someone told me that humanitarian aid included hijabs, I would have laughed--now I just smile because people get what they need.

One bag was exclusively filled with crocs and hijabs.



The A lot of the clothing had English writing on it, but much of it was not real English. I had a mini-argument with my host sister in which I told her that the following picture is clearly a mistake, and her explaining that it just means that a person is expressing joy over having you--a person named El. The second picture says "Wunderbue Woned." I guess Saudis speak English differently.

I can now say that I've seen bras from Saudi Arabia, and interestingly, I first saw them next to a hijab. The most interesting thing about the hijab wrapper was the woman depicted on the package. Last I checked, Saudi women are generally not fair skinned with skinny eyebrows and blue eyes. In the Arab world, just like in the west, the standard of beauty is paleness.




The baby blanket pictured below killed me. 10 babies are born every day in the Za'atari refugee camp in Northern Jordan, and less than 1/3 of the refugees live there in total. This means that tons of babies are being born in this terrible situation. Seeing this blanket, plus the socks and the super cute sweaters made me think of my preschoolers from a few years ago.




There were super nice blankets that came in. They were soft and warm, made in either China or Korea.




As we went through the bags, my mom constantly reminded us that the goods were not for us. The one item she took, she insisted that she would pay for. My parents are such good people, doing such good work, being so honest about doing it right. I am lucky to live with such incredible people. If you have any questions about Syria, how it effects Jordan, or how you can help, let me know.

Becca